Smart ‘eyes’ to enhance surveillance operations on Jurong Island

SINGAPORE — For a number of days over the past year, Corporal (Cpl) James Tan has been standing atop one of the many observation towers dotting Jurong Island as part of his Protection of Installation (POI) duties, his gaze fixed on the horizon for any intruders by sea.

But his job surveying the waters comes with some challenges, as the long hours spent monitoring the coastline causes eye fatigue. Glare from sunlight reflecting off the water during sunny weather can affect vision, and it can also be difficult to make out objects in the distance during the night.

From this month, however, the security trooper with the the 9th Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment (9SIR) will able to perform his duties remotely from the command centre at the unit's headquarters at Jurong Island. The new Unmanned Watch Tower, which is outfitted with multiple high-resolution electro-optical cameras that can see farther and wider, will be operational in March and give soldiers like Cpl Tan a helping hand.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a media showcase on Monday (Feb 26), Cpl Tan said that the new system gives him "very clear and precise accuracy of the vessels that are coming in, so that we can react...fast".

The advanced sensor systems will also help mitigate low-light conditions, one of the challenges that security troopers stationed at the current manned watch towers face. The camera settings will automatically adjust to allow them to identify vessels, or other objects clearly at night.

Thanks to video analytics and machine learning, it can also differentiate between threats, by identifying those such as a swimmer intruding into restricted waters, and a non-threat like a floating coconut out at sea.

Unlike the manned watch towers used now, the Unmanned Watch Tower can also be deployed to any location, depending on the demands of surveillance operations.

The Unmanned Watch Tower, which was designed and manufactured by defence research and development organisation DSO National Laboratories, was announced by Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen at his ministry's Committee of Supply debate on Friday (Mar 2). This is part of the ministry's move towards investing in new technologies to overcome resource constraints.

The SAF has been conducting POI operations on key installations such as Changi Airport and Jurong Island since the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001.

By September this year, three such towers, each about 6 metre tall, will be deployed on Jurong Island to enhance the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) POI operations.

Once the three towers are operational, they will reduce the number of security troops required for POI duties by up to 30 per cent.

One SAF unit, 9SIR, is currently trained to operate the unmanned system, and the plan is to have one team manage up to three towers.

Servicemen from 9SIR have to go through additional training of between two and three days before they can use the new system. This is on top of the 11 weeks' training that a security trooper completes in order to carry out POI duties.

Second Sergeant Endy Othman, 24, a platoon sergeant at 9SIR, told reporters that the new system helps him to make decisions, such as whether to engage or not, easier.

The full-time National Serviceman said: "(The new system) can detect a lot of vessels at the same time, (so) we can do better investigations... and promptly. We can see vessels clearly, we can see the colour and name of it clearly."

Colonel Dinesh Vasu Dash, Commander of the Island Defence Task Force, and the 2nd People's Defence Force (2PDF), said that the new Unmanned Watch Tower is an "important addition that strengthens the overall defence of Jurong Island", which can help improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.