THEME 1: MARITIME SAFETY AND SECURITY

MODENA (Modélisation de l’Observation à Distance de l’ENvironnement mAritime) stands for modelling of remote monitoring of the marine environment. Numerous methods are used for ocean surveillance – airborne, satellite, ship, coastal, etc. – and various technologies are employed. These call on a range of active and passive sensors varying widely from optronic sensors to radar, sonar, etc. with the result that data collected then has to be compiled. It is anticipated that advances in this area will enable the various technologies and surveillance methods to “speak to one another” within the context of a “systems’ system” thereby moving from an accumulation of heterogeneous information to a synthesized vision of situations under observation. Current advances also focus on problems involved in taking account of the specifics of particularly complex fields of observation, such as with moving objects and substances adrift on or in a moving environment.

MODENA is a marine environment modelling platform for simulating maritime surveillance systems and as such brings together experts in wave/matter interaction, information processing and geophysics. MODENA is an R&D tool which will make it possible, at a very early stage of a product design process, to take account of the huge diversity of parameters in the monitored environment and the constraints imposed on inter-data dialogue, thereby facilitating development of new and more intelligent sensors and surveillance systems.

MODENA will constitute a genuine scientific and technological breakthrough and Brittany has the companies and research centres with the skills to ensure its success. A great deal is at stake involving the successful acquisition of a share in rapidly expanding markets relating to the field of homeland safety and security – anti-pollution measures, fishing ground surveillance, combating illegal immigration and all types of trafficking, sea rescue operations, etc. – as well as relating to monitoring of coastal environment and sea conditions, weather/climate forecasting, flood zone surveillance, etc.

MODENA PROJECT PARTNERS

Research centres

• Ecole nationale supérieure des télécommunications de Bretagne (GET/ENST Bretagne – Brittany National Advanced Telecommunications Institute) in Brest, project director: TAMCIC Lab (télédétection aérienne et spatiale en environnement marin et sous-marin/Remote Sensing of Marine and Undersea Environment) and LEST Lab (modélisation de la propagation en télécommunications/Propagation Modelling in Telecommunications),
• Institut d’électronique et de télécommunication (IETR – Electronics and Telecommunications Institute), Rennes – SAPHIR team specialising in radar imaging,
• Institut de recherche en électrotechnique et électronique de Nantes Atlantique (IREENA – Nantes Atlantique Electro-technology and Electronics Research Institute) – Radar team specialising in the field of remote sensing particularly at sea, 
• ENSIETA (National Advanced Weapons Industry and Technology Institute), Brest – Team studying “Extraction et Exploitation de l’Information en Environnements Incertains” (Extraction and Exploitation of Information in Uncertain Environments),
• Ecole nationale d’ingénieurs de Brest (ENIB – Brest National Engineering College) is involved through the Centre européen de réalité virtuelle (CERV – European Centre for Virtual Reality) which it has created within its establishment,
• IFREMER, Brest (French Marine Research and Development Institute) – Department of Physical and Spatial Oceanography.

Companies

• MAREE, Lorient – Consultancy specialising in the development of new marine geophysics and undersea acoustics tools,
• BOOST Technologies, Plouzané – Consultancy services specialising in remote surveillance of the marine and coastal environment and, in particular, in high resolution, radar satellite imaging, Antenessa, Plouzané – One of the leading European companies for the design and manufacture of radiant systems and components,
• Thales Systèmes Aéroportés, Brest – European leader and global player in aeronautics and avionics, TSA is developing surveillance systems for civil and military purposes,
• Artal Technologies, Labèges (31, Haute Garonne) – Development of computerised supervision systems, command and control systems and simulators for use in aeronautics, defence and space industries.

Contacts

jean-yves.eouzan@pole-mer-bretagne.com
rene.garello@enst-bretagne.fr