新技术助力常规船只畅行凶险北极航线

    在这样的背景下，RAMP系统无异于信息沙漠中的一弯绿洲。针对北极的低带宽环境优化后（“海军的演示期间，在低于零下70摄氏度的环境中，我们不得不想出一些巧妙的方式打包和解压数据，”拉格林说。“这样他们就可以看到一些以前无法在北极看到的高分辨率图像”），RAMP系统融合了各种渠道的信息。从传统的气象和海洋数据，到实时X波段雷达卫星图像，再到船舶自身配备的传感器发送的雷达和声纳数据，这些数据通常自成体系，而不是集成于一个清晰地显示船只周围海洋环境的画面之上。这套系统可容纳超过200个不同的数据类型，因此每艘船不必访问相同种类或来源的数据。拉格林声称，RAMP系统的强大之处在于，它可以采集一艘船只能够给予的所有信息，不仅使用这些信息来确认威胁，还用它们来预测威胁即将在何处出现，同时告知船只哪条海道可以通行，哪条潜在路线最安全。

    “本质上说，这套系统所做的事情就是把一套完全不同的信息和数据汇聚在一起，既包括源自轮船自身的信息，还包括远程传感器信息，”拉格林说。“我们与美国海军合作，把独特且全新的尖端技术和数据来源汇聚成为一套单一系统，然后把它部署于航行在北极的波特号驱逐舰(USS Porter)上的两台笔记本电脑之中，而这一切只是为了展示技术的可能性。但就我们能够带来的信息和技术而言，这仅仅是冰山一角。”

    其中许多技术和信息来源只是刚刚才变得足够精细，商业船只也仅仅是不久前才能负担得起它们的成本。数年来，卫星、雷达和声纳一直从远处提供数据，但它们的分辨率不够理想。越来越成熟的技术（比如飞行在船只上空，搜寻潜在危险的无人驾驶飞机，以及无人操控的水面或水下机器人，后者能够在船只前方寻觅来自水下的威胁）可以提供用途远胜于从前的数据。越来越多的石油和天然气勘探人员和其他商业实体开始运用这些技术——就在8月，美国联邦航空局为应用于北极地区的两架无人驾驶飞机提供了认证，这是联邦航空局首次颁发此类认证。所有这些高分辨率数据可以被注入类似 RAMP这样的系统，从而大幅提升了它们的准确性和可靠性。

    美国海军对于诸如RAMP系统这类技术产生兴趣的原因显而易见。终有一天，RAMP系统提供的态势感知技术可以让现有的海军舰队更加自由地航行于北极环境之中，而无需进行重大的硬件升级，或者设计和采购基于北极环境、经过专门优化的新船只。但对海军有利的东西对商业利益也同样有利。RAMP系统无法在一夜之间打开北极航道，但一些分析家已经预测称，中国外贸总额（中国去年的对外贸易额高达3.87万亿美元）的15％有望在未来7年内转移至北极航线。拉格林说，类似RAMP这样的系统无疑将加速这一转变。

    “我们把RAMP系统部署在船只上，运行了30天后，我们能够向海军展示，一旦拥有恰当的技术，并且能够将这种技术融入船只的导航系统，军舰就可畅行于北极航线，无需加固船体，无需破冰船帮助，”拉格林说。“石油和天然气勘探、航运和生态旅游等商业活动同样也可以应用这种技术。无论是在西北航道，还是在东北航道，我们将有更多机会目睹无冰夏季，那里的活动将大幅增加。北极地区的交通流量增加得越多，这种技术的可行性就越高。”（财富中文网）

    译者：任文科 

    "Essentially what it does is bring together a disparate set of information and data, both native to the ship and remote sensor information," Raglin says. "We worked with [the Navy] to bring subset of unique and brand new, cutting edge technologies and data sources together into a single system that we then deployed on a couple of laptops aboard the USS Porter in the Arctic, just to show the art of the possible. But this is the tip of the iceberg with respect to what kind of information and technology we can bring to bear."

    Many of those technologies and information sources are only now becoming sophisticated and affordable enough for commercial vessels to deploy. Satellites, radar, and sonar have for years provided data from a distance, but their resolution can leave something to be desired. Increasingly mature technologies like unmanned aircraft that can fly ahead of a ship scanning for potential hazards and unmanned surface or submersible robots that can likewise seek out submerged threats ahead of a ship provide far more usable data and are increasingly employed by oil and gas exploration crews and other commercial entities (just this month the FAA certified two unmanned aircraft for use in the Arctic, the first certifications to their kind). All of that high-resolution data can be fed into systems like RAMP to drastically enhance their accuracy and reliability.

    The Navy is interested in technologies like RAMP for all the obvious reasons. The kind of situational awareness provided by RAMP could one day allow the existing naval fleet to operate more freely in the Arctic environment without major hardware upgrades or having to design and procure new purpose-designed, Arctic-optimized ships. But what's good for the Navy is good for commercial interests as well. Systems like RAMP won't open up the Arctic overnight, but some analysts already predict that up to 15 percent of China's total foreign trade (its foreign trade volume was $3.87 trillion last year) could shift to Arctic routes within the next seven years. RAMP, or something like it, will undoubtedly accelerate that shift, Raglin says.

    "By putting RAMP on the ship for 30 days and operating, we were able to demo to the Navy that with the right tech in place and the ability to integrate this into the ship's navigation system, you can put ships in the Arctic without reinforcing hulls, without icebreakers," Raglin says. "The same tech can be leveraged for commercial activities, for oil and gas exploration, for shipping, for eco-tourism. We're seeing more opportunities for ice free summers in both the Northwest Passage and the Northeast Passage, and we're going to see a lot more activity there. The more and more traffic that gets up there, the more viable it becomes."