????在這樣的背景下，RAMP系統無異于信息沙漠中的一彎綠洲。針對北極的低帶寬環境優化后（“海軍的演示期間，在低于零下70攝氏度的環境中，我們不得不想出一些巧妙的方式打包和解壓數據，”拉格林說。“這樣他們就可以看到一些以前無法在北極看到的高分辨率圖像”），RAMP系統融合了各種渠道的信息。從傳統的氣象和海洋數據，到實時X波段雷達衛星圖像，再到船舶自身配備的傳感器發送的雷達和聲納數據，這些數據通常自成體系，而不是集成于一個清晰地顯示船只周圍海洋環境的畫面之上。這套系統可容納超過200個不同的數據類型，因此每艘船不必訪問相同種類或來源的數據。拉格林聲稱，RAMP系統的強大之處在于，它可以采集一艘船只能夠給予的所有信息，不僅使用這些信息來確認威脅，還用它們來預測威脅即將在何處出現，同時告知船只哪條海道可以通行，哪條潛在路線最安全。

????“本質上說，這套系統所做的事情就是把一套完全不同的信息和數據匯聚在一起，既包括源自輪船自身的信息，還包括遠程傳感器信息，”拉格林說。“我們與美國海軍合作，把獨特且全新的尖端技術和數據來源匯聚成為一套單一系統，然后把它部署于航行在北極的波特號驅逐艦(USS Porter)上的兩臺筆記本電腦之中，而這一切只是為了展示技術的可能性。但就我們能夠帶來的信息和技術而言，這僅僅是冰山一角。”

????其中許多技術和信息來源只是剛剛才變得足夠精細，商業船只也僅僅是不久前才能負擔得起它們的成本。數年來，衛星、雷達和聲納一直從遠處提供數據，但它們的分辨率不夠理想。越來越成熟的技術（比如飛行在船只上空，搜尋潛在危險的無人駕駛飛機，以及無人操控的水面或水下機器人，后者能夠在船只前方尋覓來自水下的威脅）可以提供用途遠勝于從前的數據。越來越多的石油和天然氣勘探人員和其他商業實體開始運用這些技術——就在8月，美國聯邦航空局為應用于北極地區的兩架無人駕駛飛機提供了認證，這是聯邦航空局首次頒發此類認證。所有這些高分辨率數據可以被注入類似 RAMP這樣的系統，從而大幅提升了它們的準確性和可靠性。

????美國海軍對于諸如RAMP系統這類技術產生興趣的原因顯而易見。終有一天，RAMP系統提供的態勢感知技術可以讓現有的海軍艦隊更加自由地航行于北極環境之中，而無需進行重大的硬件升級，或者設計和采購基于北極環境、經過專門優化的新船只。但對海軍有利的東西對商業利益也同樣有利。RAMP系統無法在一夜之間打開北極航道，但一些分析家已經預測稱，中國外貿總額（中國去年的對外貿易額高達3.87萬億美元）的15％有望在未來7年內轉移至北極航線。拉格林說，類似RAMP這樣的系統無疑將加速這一轉變。

????“我們把RAMP系統部署在船只上，運行了30天后，我們能夠向海軍展示，一旦擁有恰當的技術，并且能夠將這種技術融入船只的導航系統，軍艦就可暢行于北極航線，無需加固船體，無需破冰船幫助，”拉格林說。“石油和天然氣勘探、航運和生態旅游等商業活動同樣也可以應用這種技術。無論是在西北航道，還是在東北航道，我們將有更多機會目睹無冰夏季，那里的活動將大幅增加。北極地區的交通流量增加得越多，這種技術的可行性就越高。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：任文科?

????"Essentially what it does is bring together a disparate set of information and data, both native to the ship and remote sensor information," Raglin says. "We worked with [the Navy] to bring subset of unique and brand new, cutting edge technologies and data sources together into a single system that we then deployed on a couple of laptops aboard the USS Porter in the Arctic, just to show the art of the possible. But this is the tip of the iceberg with respect to what kind of information and technology we can bring to bear."

????Many of those technologies and information sources are only now becoming sophisticated and affordable enough for commercial vessels to deploy. Satellites, radar, and sonar have for years provided data from a distance, but their resolution can leave something to be desired. Increasingly mature technologies like unmanned aircraft that can fly ahead of a ship scanning for potential hazards and unmanned surface or submersible robots that can likewise seek out submerged threats ahead of a ship provide far more usable data and are increasingly employed by oil and gas exploration crews and other commercial entities (just this month the FAA certified two unmanned aircraft for use in the Arctic, the first certifications to their kind). All of that high-resolution data can be fed into systems like RAMP to drastically enhance their accuracy and reliability.

????The Navy is interested in technologies like RAMP for all the obvious reasons. The kind of situational awareness provided by RAMP could one day allow the existing naval fleet to operate more freely in the Arctic environment without major hardware upgrades or having to design and procure new purpose-designed, Arctic-optimized ships. But what's good for the Navy is good for commercial interests as well. Systems like RAMP won't open up the Arctic overnight, but some analysts already predict that up to 15 percent of China's total foreign trade (its foreign trade volume was $3.87 trillion last year) could shift to Arctic routes within the next seven years. RAMP, or something like it, will undoubtedly accelerate that shift, Raglin says.

????"By putting RAMP on the ship for 30 days and operating, we were able to demo to the Navy that with the right tech in place and the ability to integrate this into the ship's navigation system, you can put ships in the Arctic without reinforcing hulls, without icebreakers," Raglin says. "The same tech can be leveraged for commercial activities, for oil and gas exploration, for shipping, for eco-tourism. We're seeing more opportunities for ice free summers in both the Northwest Passage and the Northeast Passage, and we're going to see a lot more activity there. The more and more traffic that gets up there, the more viable it becomes."?