Abstract
Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) in the Canadian Arctic is limited by the scarceness or even absence of monitoring sensors. The backbone for vessel surveillance is represented by the satellite-based Automatic Identification System (S-AIS), which provides important though not comprehensive information about ships in the area. The objective of the Canadian-German research project PASSAGES is to specify the requirements and the modular architecture of a persistent maritime surveillance and risk management system adapted to arctic conditions and focused on the Northwest Passage (NWP). In order to provide a continuous vessel traffic picture in remote and local areas, real and simulated sensors from space borne and ground based platforms besides S-AIS are taken into account. The capabilities of such multi-sensor surveillance solutions in enhancing the MDA are demonstrated over two selected operationally relevant scenarios.