The aim of port security is to detect threats of unlawful actions against ports and port facilities (terminals) in their role as an interface with ships engaged in international transport, and to take appropriate measures to prevent these threats and limit their impacts.

The scope of this campaign is to assess operational contribution of RPAs in support to protection against non-cooperatives small crafts approaching the port areas. Migrant or activist semi-rigid inflatable boats, leisure boats with deliberate or undeliberate illicit behaviour, should be consider as non-cooperative crafts.
Although the scenario will be refined during the project, the objective is to demonstrate in the case of ports such as Le Havre, how rotary wing fleet and fixed-wing RPAS can collaborate to ensure the surveillance of a port, its mooring area, and globally its vicinity (up to about 50km) for the detection and localisation of non-cooperative crafts.

The demonstration scenario will be based on the complementary use of rotary wing UAVs for performing automatic survey on predefined patterns 24/7 in the close vicinity of the port, and fixed-wings will ensure the surveillance at a larger scale (such as mooring areas, approach channels, pilot waters).

In addition, scenarios of deployment on order from the port authority in order to check an abnormal situation, in complement to existing port sensors (Vessel Traffic Services system including radars, AIS, optical) and help for decision-making will also be addressed.

E-GNSS authentication service (OS-NMA) will add a reliable and accurate tracking of drones that allows ensuring and increasing trust of information and videos captured. This will globally demonstrate the possibility to use RPAs data to establish some legal records (staying in forbidden areas, dangerous comportments, illegal fishering, etc). 

Ports such as Marseille, la Rochelle and others, have also been identified as candidates to host the campaign since they are concerned by the challenges identified in this scenario.