Harris Corp. global ship-tracking technology now operational

(MELBOURNE, Fla.) — Harris Corp.'s first four maritime vessel tracking receivers are now operational, establishing the beginning of global, persistent, real-time automatic identification system (AIS) ship tracking capability.

Launched Jan. 14 on board four Iridium NEXT satellites, the maritime tracking hosted payloads are now tracking 250,000 ships and providing data to government and commercial customers. Once the satellite constellation is fully operational next year, it will offer a continuous revisit rate and improved vessel detection and downlinking of AIS information, with an average latency of less than one minute.

Harris owns and operates the AIS payloads and is the exclusive provider of exactEarth AIS products and services to the U.S. government. Harris is partnered with exactEarth, which performs the ground-based data processing and continues to service all other global markets.

“Ninety percent of the world’s trade is transported via oceans, making maritime domain awareness critically important,” said Bill Gattle, president, Harris Space and Intelligence Systems. “This is the first global, persistent, real-time system for the industry, enabling customers to accurately track cargo, tanker, passenger and fishing vessels outfitted with existing AIS transceivers.”

For more information about exactEarth, visit www.exactearth.com. For more about Harris Corp., visit www.harris.com.

By Professional Mariner Staff