Services

Search & Rescue

ASA provides world-standard services and solutions for maritime search and rescue (SAR).   For accidents at sea and in nearshore coastal waters, ASA provides computer-based modeling services that can be used in combination with aerial and boat surveillance techniques to locate missing vessels, cargo, or persons in the water (PIWs).  ASA’s computer-based modeling procedures employ information on wind, currents and the drift characteristics of the objects (e.g., vessels, bodies, debris, cargo) to predict the trajectory and to delineate  the most probable search areas for the object versus time.  Surveillance operations are then designed to assure coverage of the identified search area. 

ASA has in-house search and rescue modeling tools as well as vast knowledge and expertise accumulated from decades working in this field and with some of the world’s leading SAR experts, including senior-ranking U.S. Coast Guard officials.   In 2007, ASA in collaboration with Northrup Grumman, Metron Inc., and the U.S. Coast Guard, built and delivered SAROPS (Search & Rescue Optimal Planning System), to the replace the Coast Guard’s legacy SAR system and technique (JAWS).  Within the first month of deployment, the system logged several successful rescues and the Coast Guard considers the system a success as it continues to deploy the system to Coast Guard command centers throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Guam.   

ASA also provides SARMAP™, search and rescue software built off the SAROPS framework combining ASA’s metocean data integration, GIS tools, and expert drift prediction methodologies.  SARMAP is used by coast guards and marine safety agencies globally including Irish Coast Guard, SASEMAR (Spain), Argentina Navy, Singapore Port Authority, Maritime New Zealand, among many others.

By providing a customized version of the SARMAP application or a completely customized solution, ASA’s search and rescue services and capabilities include:

• Determine search area for missing vessels, persons or containers
• Identify probable location of an accident site or lost object
• Store home base locations of all available Search & Rescue Units (SRUs)
• SRU Deployment and Search Pattern management
• Floating contraband tracking
• Reverse trajectory calculations