Centurion Harbor Surveillance Program
Centurion Harbor Surveillance Program for Homeland Security Applications
Northrop Grumman’s FOAS technology is a key element in the Centurion Port-Harbor Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection system which provides the operator with a complete status of the harbor he is monitoring.
Performance benefits of this technology include unsurpassed detection, identification and tracking capability for the harbor defense applications. Since no electronic components are in the water, the fiber-optic arrays provide a highly reliable solution that also offers reduced acquisition and maintenance costs. The arrays employ glass fibers, instead of older technology piezoelectric hydrophones, to convert sound to modulated light for efficient transmission to shore.
Centurion Proof-of-Concept Demonstration
This integrated sensor and display product shows the harbor vicinity and potential threats on a standard Navy display system located at the test site. During a demonstration, divers with a battery-powered underwater propulsion device were easily detected attempting to penetrate the harbor. Surface craft traveling in the test area, and entering the restricted Port of Hueneme, were also detected and tracked.
The proof-of-concept demonstration was completed within three months of the contract award by the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Surveillance Systems Program Office, utilizing passive fiber-optic sonar arrays and support equipment delivered by Northrop Grumman’s Navigation Systems Division, coupled with commercial-off-the-shelf equipment provided by Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The equipment provided by Sperry Marine included the marine radar, Automatic Identification System (AIS), shipboard identification system and the digital electronic charting system that provided the common integrated harbor picture.
The Northrop Grumman team completed a threat analysis for the port and determined the most effective locations to place the underwater arrays. The array installation was performed with the assistance of the Naval Facilities Engineering Support Center and the team’s ocean engineering subcontractor, Sound and Sea Technology, Inc. of Edmonds, Washington and Ventura, California.