Within the I-SEAMORE project, Vortex CoLab proposed to set up a system that supports and improves border patrolling maritime operations. The I-SEAMORE platform uses a set of sensors and information sources to assess the status and operations of vessels. These inputs are fed to an anomaly detector that alerts suspicious behaviours associated with illegal activities. Based on the type and trigger of the alarm, an operator can decide to act and obtain more information about the situation at the location. The operator can check which unmanned assets are available to deploy, plan, and start a mission. Once the asset reaches the target location, it will collect data as requested (e.g., video) and send it to the platform for analysis by the operator. Further actions depend on the detections and the policies of the maritime entity.
The I-SEAMORE partners have developed a set of components to support the actions mentioned above. VIGIA is the platform that provides mission planning and management of ongoing missions, offering visibility over the available unmanned assets, defining their path on a map, and scheduling their actions. The images captured by the drones are processed by specialized image processing algorithms capable of identifying ships and their contents. A series of content-specific adaptors were developed to collect data from sensors, such as the specific payloads on the drones, satellite data, or ais data. Finally, mission specifics and all related data are recorded so they can be replayed by a custom-made debrief tool for educational and training purposes.
The consortium has been working hard on integrating the various components mentioned above. Currently, we can launch missions using a predefined path for a selected unmanned asset. The asset captures images along its path, which are analysed automatically to detect ships and gather information about them. All signals from the various sensors are fused and fed into the anomaly detector to potentially raise alarms. These steps are being validated by our end users, who have been guiding the development efforts to ensure they meet their needs.
Finally, the consortium will have further integration and development sessions to provide the best results to our end users by the end of the project, fulfilling their surveillance needs. These results will also be presented during REPMUS 25, an annual exercise for Unmanned Maritime Systems organized and hosted by the Portuguese Navy and NATO, with participation from maritime forces worldwide, tech companies, and universities.
