Kongsberg Maritime has supplied a comprehensive CCTV system to the US Coast Guard’s Heavy Ice Breaker vessel, Polar Star (WAGB-10).
The delivery follows a successful CCTV System upgrade on Polar Star’s sister vessel, the USCGC Healy Polar Ice Breaker, in 2013.
The USCGC Polar Star is one of the largest ships in the US Coast Guard and one of the world’s most powerful non-nuclear ships. It was commissioned in 1976 but in 2006 went into ‘Caretaker’ status when the crew was reduced and the ship kept ready for a return to the ice. In 2013, the Polar Star was officially reactivated and reassumed its variety of missions throughout the polar regions.
The Kongsberg Maritime CCTV range is a scalable harsh environment marine platform that incorporates a combination of high-quality in-house design with modified off the shelf (MOTS) video camera stations, telemetry and control components.
The exposed cameras on the Polar Star are manufactured from stainless steel and engineered to withstand harsh exposed marine environments and extremely low temperatures. Many system components comply with the highest naval specifications for shock, vibration, EMI, temperature and humidity.
The system deployed on the Polar Star comprises a range of marine grade camera stations, including fixed cameras with zoom capability and one PTZ (Pan, Tilt and Zoom) camera, in the exposed above deck locations.
These cameras utilise a high-resolution low-light colour / mono sensor with 18x optical zoom, and feature an integrated wiper system. Below deck surveillance and safety is provided by a series of high-resolution varifocal colour dome cameras with built-in IR illumination for operation in poor lighting conditions.
The new Kongsberg Maritime CCTV system will provide improved video image quality, more flexible control, power conditioning, viewing, recording options and maximum durability for operating in some of the most hostile marine conditions.
High-quality images are distributed throughout this 400ft-long ship via a large video matrix and full control of all the cameras is made available at telemetry keyboards with three-axis joystick control.
The Polar Star, as with the Healy, has its homeport in Seattle, US. KUTI (Kongsberg Underwater Technologies Inc) based in nearby Lynnwood, WA, provided the customer with local assistance during the commissioning of the CCTV system for the Healy and will provide similar support for the Polar Star.
Kongsberg has worked closely with the US Coastguard on both the Polar Star and Healy projects to provide all equipment in a timely manner and facilitate the support levels required to see these projects through to a satisfactory conclusion for this prestigious customer.