Tony Ponsford

Tony Ponsford

Affiliation
Raytheon Canada
(
Country
CAN
)
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Dr. Ponsford graduated with distinction from Plymouth Navy College (UK) in 1977. In 1982 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Maritime Technology, graduating with first class honours, from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. Whilst working at the University of Birmingham (UK) as a research associate Tony was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in recognition of his pioneering work in High Frequency Surface wave Radar.
Tony joined Raytheon Canada Limited in 1991 where he is currently an Engineering Fellow and Technical Director, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA). Tony’s career in Maritime Domain Awareness started whilst serving as an Officer in the Merchant Marine where he worked with Shell Tankers in developing concepts of MDA. In the 1980’s, working as a research associate at the University of Birmingham, he initiated the development of High Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HFSWR) for persistent surveillance of a nation’s 200 nautical mile (nm) Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Whilst at Birmingham University, Tony’s work came to the attention of the Canadian Government who subsequently offered him the opportunity to further develop HFSWR and the concept of Integrated Maritime Surveillance. In 1987 he joined NORDCO Limited in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, as the Senior Scientist and Technical Director of the newly formed Integrated Maritime Surveillance business unit. In this capacity he established Canada’s first HFSWR test bed facility at Cape Bonavista. This development progressed into the world’s first shore-based, real-time, EEZ surveillance sensor that provided persistent, all-weather, tracking of ships, icebergs and aircraft throughout the EEZ. Two prototype systems were subsequently deployed on the Canadian East Coast and international sales followed. In 2011 Raytheon Canada received a contract to design and deliver a Next Generation HFSWR with options to install these systems in an Integrated Maritime Surveillance network that would provide persistent, real-time surveillance of Atlantic and Pacific EEZs , as well as the approached to the Canadian Arctic.
Dr. Ponsford is a regular participant in national and international forums on Maritime Surveillance and has established several collaborative research programs between Raytheon Canada, the government and universities including a multi-year program that developed a ‘Canadian Centre of Excellence’ in Tracking and Fusion to meet present and future surveillance requirements. Tony is also one of the founding members of the Canadian Tracking and Fusion Group and has over 50 publications related to Maritime Domains Awareness.
Currently, Tony holds 5 patents with a further 6 patents pending. His TracShare system for exchanging navigation radar track data was the overall winner of Raytheon’s Network Centric System Innovation Challenge Competition in 2011.
In 2011 Tony received the IEEE Ottawa Section “Outstanding Engineer Award” for his scientific contributions in the development and advancement of High Frequency Surface Wave Radar and Maritime Domain Awareness.
He is Co-Chair of the IEEE AESS Ottawa Chapter and was Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee for IEEE Radar Conference 2013 that place in Ottawa 29th April 0- 3rd May with the theme “The Arctic – The New Frontier”

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