The Use of Remote Sensing for Maritime Surveillance for Security and Safety in Cyprus

Abstract

Maritime surveillance is of critical importance for threat prevention and maintenance of national security and safety. Maritime traffic comprises worldwide navigation of millions of vessels. In this sense, the geostrategic position of Cyprus entails the need for effective monitoring of marine traffic. Remote Sensing is a technique, which enables maritime surveillance by means of space-based detection and identification of marine traffic. The advent of new satellite missions, such as Sentinel-1, enabled the acquisition of systematic datasets for monitoring vessels. Using the Copernicus Open Access Hub service, it is now feasible to access satellite data in a fully automated and near real-time mode and deliver vessel information through a web portal interface. Nevertheless, there is still a great need to understand the full potential of the information acquired from such sensors. In this paper, an overview of vessel tracking techniques using Sentinel acquisitions is carried out. Consequently, vessel detections via space imagery could be authenticated against Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, which provide the location and dimensions of ships that are legally operating in the Cyprus region.