Blighter’s Smart E-scan Radars Deployed to Protect Oil Facilities in Petro-piracy Hotspot
Blighter’s C400 series coastline surveillance radars, featuring advanced Doppler signal processing and unique wave and sea clutter filters, provide all-weather 24/7 protection against small shallow-draught vessels favoured by oil pirates and militants.
Blighter has deployed its dual-mode Blighter C400 series coastline surveillance technology to protect offshore oil platforms and an onshore refinery in Equatorial Guinea, a Petro-piracy hotspot off the West African coast.
Blighter’s C400 series radars have been proven to be highly effective in targeting the growing problem of piracy. It is estimated that the illegal black market for stolen oil is worth over US$1 billion. The radars in Equatorial Guinea are now fully operational following system configuration and training.
According to Blighter, its customer needed a compact coastline radar system that was easy to install, ultra-reliable, and could detect, track, and classify the small shallow-draught vessels favoured by oil pirates and militants, which typically sit low in the water and move at speed. The radar sensor selected needed to provide detection day and night in all weather conditions, including heavy rain, fog, and during thunderstorms.
James Long, Blighter’s CEO, says: “We know that oil pirates are highly organised and often choose to exploit harsh weather conditions to evade detection, with many only becoming active during heavy rains or high sea states. Our C400 radar systems were chosen to plug the gap in our customers’ defences as our sensors are specifically designed to detect even the smallest uncooperative targets in complex, cluttered, and extreme environments.”
Blighter’s C400 radars have several features that make them suitable for coastline surveillance, and particularly for detecting uncooperative targets.
First, the compact design and low-power electronically scanning and frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) technologies contain no moving parts. This ensures ease of installation and ultra-reliable operation with minimal maintenance, even in the harshest marine conditions. The C400 series is IP66-rated and MIL-STD-810F compliant.
Second, the Blighter C400 series radar uses advanced Doppler signal processing to provide the ability to precisely examine the motion of waterborne objects with respect to waves or ripples on the water surface. Unlike traditional Doppler radars, the C400 series characterises non-moving targets using the static target detector so that moored boats, buoys, and other structures remain visible on the radar screen.
Third, the radar’s built-in sea clutter filter automatically adapts to changing sea states and wave conditions to remove the unwanted radar signal produced by waves using both velocity (speed) and amplitude (height) characteristics.
Blighter radar’s e-scan antenna technology and FMCW design also allows it to be mounted high on offshore platforms and onshore towers and still detect targets close to the platform or shore as well as those further away. In Equatorial Guinea, the detection range of the C400 radars is around 20km. Importantly, all of the radars deployed are networked together to provide onshore controllers with a common operating picture (COP) of the offshore and onshore facilities.
“We are delighted to see that our radar technology is continuing to be used to combat the costly problem of Petro-piracy in the oil and gas industry,” says James Long, Blighter’s CEO. “Our C400 radars have proved to be highly effective against piracy, and their dual mode operation allows detection of small and/or slow-moving boats at sea as well as ground targets such as intruders on the coastline shore.”
The Blighter C400 series radar can be integrated into a larger coastal security system incorporating day/night and fog-penetrating electro-optical camera systems, AIS (automatic identification system), other boat transponder/tracking systems, and CCTV. These elements can all be controlled through Blighter’s command and control (C2) software platform.
Blighter C400 series radars are also suitable for other coastal security applications, including seaport security surveillance and water-side security of land-based coastal assets, such as desalination plants, nuclear power stations, palaces, and other high-value assets.