Observing our borders from space
NEWA adresses State of the Art in EU
Technology and Techniques (T&T)
useful for identifying and
following moving objects by means of
radar satellites, which could
be used for smart border surveillance.
The security of Europeans is
increasingly dependent on
space assets for enhanced border
monitoring and effective
law enforcement throughout the EU. The
project
NEWA draws up a sustainable road-map outlining use
of
radar satellites for European space-based Reconnaissance
&
Surveillance (R&S).
With borders stretching more than
10.000 kilometres
across land and some 50.000 kilometres at sea,
new
space based technologies for border surveillance are of
strategic importance to the EU. Across these vast areas,
radar
satellites hold the potential to feed intelligence
to border
control and law enforcement authorities
throughout Europe. Moving
Target Indication by Space
Based Radar (MTI SBR) promises to
enhance efforts to
mitigate trafficking of human beings and drugs.
However,
the effectiveness of radar
satellites at the service
of European space based R&S is
dependent on the accessibility
of critical technological
components, some of
which are currently not produced in Europe.
Therefore
NEWA undertakes a comprehensive mapping of existing
technological gaps that prevent the establishment of
such
capabilities. Hence the NEWA project seeks to support
the European
Commission, the European Defence
Agency (EDA) and the European
Space Agency (ESA) in
their work aimed at identifying critical
technologies for
European strategic non-dependence in the area of
moving
object detection and identification.
NEWA will support further European
capabilities by identifying
the most critical innovation
concept
techniques that need to
be developed in Europe in order to
secure
effective space-based R&S.
Also NEWA will help EU research
centres invest into this field of interest.
In doing so, the
project will
draw up a sustainable European
roadmap for such
technological development,
taking into account the
different
requirements of the authorities
within the EU that are
responsible for border control
and law enforcement in this
area
of space security and defence
policies.
Questions & Answers
What do you want to achieve
with this
project?
The main purpose of NEWA is to review
the state of the art in EU competences
for the MTI technique and
the
useful technologies. The aim of the
final Roadmap is to
support the development
of next generation Radar
satellite
capabilities for citizen security
and environmental monitoring.
Why is this project important
for
Europe?
The importance of NEWA is to develop
an EU Roadmap for the implementation
of independent T&T, and
increase
EU competences not only for the benefit
of the large
integrator companies
but also for PMIs and SMEs.
How does your work
benefit European
citizens?
The European citizens will benefit
from NEWA by the wide range of applications,
such as environmental
monitoring, and maritime surveillance
that can focalize efforts on
the
implementation of T&T indicated by
the stud.
Download full brochure: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/space/files/research/fp7_desire_for_space.pdf
