PORT LUDLOW — A small technology company is creating a component that will be installed on new Navy fighters, the company announced this week.
Shine Micro, a manufacturer of equipment that receives and interprets Automatic Identification System (AIS) data sent from vessels, won a contract with Boeing for 53 SA161-MH high-sensitivity receivers.
Company officials declined to provide the amount of the contract.
The Port Ludlow company founded by Mark and Judy Johnson in 1980 has 11 employees.
The receivers will be installed in Poseidon long-range surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft through 2016.
AIS are used for identifying and monitoring maritime traffic by transmitting identification information that can be displayed on a laptop computer or chart plotter.
This information includes vessel name, radio call sign, navigational status, speed, heading, type of ship/cargo, destination and estimated time of arrival.
The data often are used for monitoring and safety purposes.
While this is a military contract, the technology also will be used for search and rescue, according to company spokeswoman Stephanie Nevarez.
“This technology will be used to identify vessels of interest,” she said.
“AIS is an integrated system, and one important application is to identify and locate vessels that are disabled or off course.”
The SA161-MH, with a range of several hundred miles, receives AIS data and lets the pilot know whether a particular vessel is a security threat.
Nevarez said some vessels send out incorrect data about their purpose or location. The equipment can detect this information, which is known as “spoofing,” she said.
In many cases, the aircraft will use the data to determine whether it poses any danger or whether its identity can be verified.
Vessels detected on radar whose identity cannot be verified through AIS data may require further monitoring, Nevarez said.
“We operate on several frequencies in order to verify an identity or learn more about a particular target or whether it needs to be investigated,” she said.
The SA161-MH has been deployed on a wide variety of manned and unmanned aircraft since 2008 and can operate at high altitudes or extreme temperatures, according to a news release.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
