LIPI makes cheap sea, air radar

The Jakarta Post

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) introduced Monday its own maritime radar that will monitor any potential air threat or a vessel accident at sea for one tenth of the cost of an imported radar.

"Imported radars are expensive and the purchasing procedure can take a long time because (a radar is) considered a strategic defense item," LIPI's radar project lead researcher Mashury said.

For one radar with a distance signal of 67 kilometers, the Indonesian Military (TNI) can spend up to US$100,000.

"Indonesia is an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands spread over a vast area of sea so we would need many units of the devices," Mashury said.

LIPI Research Center for Electronics and Telecommunication head Hizkia said the LIPI team had assisted the Indonesian government in monitoring all objects entering the country's territorial waters.

"The collision of ships and the operation of illegal vessels can be prevented by using this radar," Mashury said.

Indonesia's losses due to illegal activities at sea, including illegal log and sand shipments and fishery smuggling, amount to more than Rp 100 trillion, Mashury said.

The maritime radars can assist the Navy and the police, as well as the Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Ministry, by monitoring sea activities in real time.

What occurs at sea will be instantly detected by radar personnel.

"The number of ships (we need to monitor per square kilometer of open sea) is one ship to 72,000 square kilometers, so, according to data from the Defense Ministry, Indonesia needs about 350 patrol vessels," said Mashury.

The Navy currently has 117 ships, of which 77 are between 20 and 60 years of age.

"The operational cost of each ship is not cheap," Mashury said.

" That's why the placement of these radars will be very effective."

In mid 2006, LIPI started to collaborate with Technical University (TU) of Delft in the Netherlands to develop the radars.

LIPI built the hardware, framework, signal and antenna, while the International Research Center for Telecommunications-Transmission and Radar (IRCTR) from TU Delft designed the radar.

"TU Delft helped by making hard-to-find components available to us," Mashury said.

In the 1980s, Indonesia undertook several studies on radar hardware, including pulse generators, digital converters and antennas.

"Past research experience has helped in the finalization of the maritime radar," Mashury said.

"In principle, not much has changed regarding hardware."

The technology required for the radar's software has been developed quickly, enabling experts to access a lot more information, including distance-to-object and speed-of-object, as well as the form and contour of object.

LIPI will install the prototype radar off Cilegon, Banten.

It plans to finish constructing the radar by mid 2008.

(JP/Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo) -- JP