Kelvin Hughes, the London-based supplier of navigation and surveillance systems, has won a number of Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) Radar System contracts with Australian Maritime Systems Ltd, a VTS supplier in Australia.
All of these contracts involve the supply of SharpEye SBS-800 radars with pulse compression and Doppler processing. SharpEye radar, available in X and S band frequencies, has no magnetron and uses a coherent transmission. The makers say that it makes it capable of separating small targets from clutter due to their differing radial velocity components. The offers safer shipping operations, with it’s claimed low through-life costs.
Kelvin Hughes was contracted to supply two SharpEye Upmast transceiver X-Band radars with the firm’s low profile antennas that reduce windage as part of a system designed to protect what is set to be Australia’s largest offshore platform. The Wheatstone project also encompasses an onshore VTS system, focusing on the monitoring and management of traffic at an LNG terminal to be constructed near Onslow, Western Australia. As with the Wheatstone platform, Kelvin Hughes has supplied SharpEye Upmast transceiver X-Band radars with a Kelvin Hughes low profile antenna.
And at the Port of Darwin, which is Australia’s closest port to south east Asia and some 18 times the size of Sydney Harbour, a VTS system is being installed for which Kelvin Hughes was contracted to supply two SharpEye Upmast transceiver X-Band radars and low profile antennas. The Port of Dampier, located in the Pilbara Region of western Australia, is the world’s second largest bulk export port and a major port for rig tenders servicing the offshore gas fields. There Kelvin Hughes has supplied two SharpEye Upmast transceiver X-Band radars with their low profile antennas.
Robert Kleist, Kelvin Hughes’ Head of Sales for the ASEAN region, said: “This succession of contract wins is highly gratifying for us as it highlights the superiority of the SharpEye radar system when it comes to protecting shipping and demonstrates the range of our global reach.”
The Enfield-based firm is among exhibitors at DSEI, the defence and security show at London Docklands, from September 10 to 13. Other applications of the firm’s products include events, borders, prisons and airports. Its radar is also used for ‘bird strike avoidance’ at Bagram airfield in Afghanistan, among others. Pictured: the company’s radar installed on Christmas Island.
