Found this page earlier regarding the ANISTIAMO Project:
Of real note - is that it will use (uses?) the earth station in Elfordstown and does not rely on AIS alone, it will utilise a number of radar observation satellites. It's a very impressive capability leap. Sort of like going from secondary air surveillance radar to an E-3 Sentry...
Overlay the radar returns with AIS signals, and say hello to the vessels of interest...
An idea of the capabilities:
As an aside, the Elfordstown earth station is now also being use as the downlink for NS satellite comms. Considering the site lay dormant for around a decade, it's great to see it back like this and becoming a strategic piece of national infrastructure again
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