Defence Security

Horizon Technologies holds Greek Amber Users Workshop at British Ambassador’s Residence in Athens

Posted 4 February 2020

Horizon Technologies held its Greek Amber Users Workshop in Athens, Greece, at the British Ambassador’s Residence, the historic building which was once home to Greek Statesman Eleftherios Venizelos.

Images courtesy Horizon Technologies

Her Majesty’s Ambassador Ms Kate Smith CMG welcomed over 30 attendees from eleven different Greek services and government departments as well as representatives from various British agencies, FRONTEX and EUROPOL.

Amber is Horizon Technologies’ Constellation of CubeSats and a Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Data As A Service (DAAS) which will launch in 2020.

Together with the UK Government, Horizon Technologies will be launching its first 6U CubeSat platform on a AAC Clyde Space bus. The first launch is part of the Satellite Application Catapult’s In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) programme. The Amber payload will be able to locate and track vessels worldwide by picking up their electronic emissions using the L-band SatPhone detection sensor package derived from the existing FlyingFish system, combined with an AIS receiver. In addition, the Amber CubeSats will have X and S-band sensors to detect, geolocate and classify maritime radars and correlate these signals against the presence of AIS beacons.

The Amber constellation will work together with Horizon Technologies’ Amber Processing Center (APC), partially funded by Innovate UK in 2018, to provide end-to-end data services linked to illegal maritime activity to customers worldwide. The APC will be operational by the time AMBER-1 is launched in 2020. The satellite bus will be supplied by Glasgow-based AAC Clyde Space and will be deployed into orbit from the International Space Station by launch provider Nanoracks.

With its first Amber launch approaching as well as the commissioning of our Amber Processing Center (APC) at NMIC in Portsmouth, the workshop was invaluable in preparing Greece to begin using Amber data once it is available.

Horizon Technologies expressed its sincere thanks to the Ambassador, the Embassy staff and its DIT/DSO partners (the Defence and Security Organisation within the Department for International Trade), for making the workshop such a success.

Horizon Technologies will be hosting follow-up Amber meetings at an offsite location for a number of Amber users coinciding with the Singapore Air Show 11th-16th February 2020.