On
16 March 2023, a Frontex delegation attended the final demonstration of a
project carried out by the NESTOR consortium in Alexandroupolis,
Greece.
The
main aim was to present a comprehensive border surveillance system by providing
pre-frontier situational awareness beyond maritime and land borders.
During
the event, the consortium showcased several developments, including mixed
reality glasses, an unmanned underwater vehicle and a platform that integrates
data from radio frequency analysers (used for locating signals from mobile
phones), long-range electro optical sensor, 360 camera, 3D radar, unmanned
ground vehicle.
The
consortium presented the results of almost two years of collaboration between 21
European partners, with practitioners from Greece (Hellenic Police), Bulgaria
(General Directorate of the Border Police), Spain (Ministry of Interior),
Lithuania (State Border Guard), North Macedonia (Ministry of Interior).
Organised
between 12-22 March 2023, the Greek-Bulgarian land & maritime trial focused
on detection of irregular migration and human trafficking using enhanced
sensing and robotic technologies, with the main objective to improve the
long-range surveillance capabilities in the Orestiada area, border area of
Evros Delta and Samothraki Island. Frontex was invited to join the execution of
the second phase of the Greek-Bulgarian pilot – border area of Evros Delta.
Earlier
in the project, NESTOR organised maritime trials in Lithuania and Cyprus,
with demonstrations dedicated to illegal goods trafficking and search and
rescue respectively.
The
project is being carried out under the umbrella of the 8th
Research and Innovation Framework Programme – Horizon 2020.
