Extending Comprehensive Maritime Awareness to Disconnected Vessels and Users

Abstract

After the attacks of 9/11, increased security became a national priority that resulted in a focus on National Maritime Security. Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) is an initiative developed by the Coast Guard, in partnership with the U.S. Navy and other agencies to increase awareness in the maritime domain in support of maritime security [Morgan and Wimmer, 2005]. The purpose of MDA is to generate actionable intelligence obtained via the collection, fusion and dissemination of information from U.S. joint forces, U.S. government agencies, international coalition partners and commercial entities. This actionable intelligence is the cornerstone of successful counterterrorist and maritime law enforcement operations and is critical to Maritime Security [Morgan and Wimmer, 2005]. The U.S. Navy, as a partner in the development and creation of MDA, has tasked its subordinate commands to identify and define capabilities to support this program. One effort sponsored is the Comprehensive Maritime Awareness (CMA) Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration (JCTD) [CMA Architecture Team, 2007]. This project supports the CMA JCTD efforts by proposing a deployable system to enable a disconnected vessel to connect to the CMA network. A disconnected user can be seen as a merchant ship, hospital ship or any vessel that is not currently connected to the CMA network. This project's proposed deployable system, as a subset to the CMA network, facilitates information sharing in support of humanitarian efforts worldwide.