New satellite communication technology for Greece’s rescue services, Coast Guard and Air Force will expand the area under their surveillance and allow them to accurately locate distress signals, respond faster and save lives.
- 18 February 2021
“With this project, search and rescue service providers receive a technology upgrade, ensuring a more immediate and accurate response to emergencies.”
The project beneficiary, the Greek Joint Rescue Coordination Centre and the Hellenic Coast Guard will acquire eight satellite antennas, equipment and software for low-earth orbit (LEO), medium earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO) ground stations. Mission control centre equipment and software, radio coupling equipment and three rescue control systems are included as well. The agreement with the supplier includes training and technical support for seven years.
The satellite antennas will be installed at Hellenic Air Force bases. They will track MEO, LEO and GEO satellites to ensure fast, accurate location of distress signals from aircraft, ships and people. Management and surveillance equipment will be installed at the Hellenic Coast Guard Headquarters in Piraeus.
Reduced response time and larger coverage area
The new system will reduce response times to at most 15 minutes. This includes receipt of a distress call, tracing its location and communicating it to rescue services. Before, response times varied from 20 minutes to 2.5 hours.
Since 2008, the Greek Mission Control Centre has responded to an average of 6.3 distress alerts per year in its search-and-rescue area, the highest being 11 in 2010. Over the same period, it responded to an average of 126 false alerts per year, the most being 170 in 2011.
These numbers do not include distress beacons activated outside Greece’s search-and-rescue area that were detected by Greece’s systems, or routed to the country by other countries.
MEOSAR
The equipment to be supplied under this project will allow Greece to take advantage of Medium Earth Orbiting Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) receivers. These are located on satellites operated by the US, Russia and Europe and placed at altitudes of between 19 000 km and 24 000 km above the earth. The system is automated and allows for almost immediate location of distress signals anywhere on earth.
This improves on geostationary satellites, which stay above a fixed point on the earth’s surface at an altitude of about 35 km, and where it is more difficult to calculate locations, and LEO satellites that are at altitudes of between 160 km and 1000 km.
The coverage area provided by MEOSAR satellites is about seven times greater than that provided by LEOSAR ones. The five LEOSAR satellites currently in orbit do not provide constant coverage of any one area of the globe, which can cause delays in picking up distress signals.
In contrast, there are about 50 MEOSAR satellites in orbit, with plans to launch more. The system guarantees that an activated distress beacon will be located immediately.
Greece’s MEOSAR antennas are based in Keratea, East Attica, and can pick up distress signals within a 2 500 km radius, roughly to the southern tip of Finland to the north, the coast of Turkmenistan in the east, Sudan to the south, and the western part of Spain. Outside this area, distress beacons will still be detected, but with less accuracy.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Upgrading of the Greek satellite tracking system for Search and Rescue missions” is EUR 5 384 624, with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 4 576 930 through the “Transport infrastructure, environment and sustainable development” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Improves the safety of transportation”.