MARISS Network & DOLPHIN innovation for Satellite based Maritime Services for Safety, Security and Fisheries
Nicolosi, Paola; Quattrociocchi, Dino
e-GEOS, ITALY
The need for global coverage, immediate -notice threat assessment and early warning capabilities has led Maritime authorities to adopt high technological solutions for Maritime Traffic Monitoring.
Maritime pictures used by these authorities currently rely upon information acquired from traditional maritime information sources (AIS, VMS, LRIT). One of the main limitations of adopted systems is the inability, when used as stand-alone tools, to track the approaching or departing ships (especially if non-cooperative), outside a range of few NM from the coastline, so that the awareness of competent authorities of an illegal approach or departure of smugglers or immigrants is generally raised too late.
In response to this specific gap the MARISS Services, provided through a geographically distributed network, improve the accuracy and completeness of the maritime picture by including information from complementary monitoring capabilities of high optical and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imaging space sensors and Satellite-AIS.
The operational use of satellite data in maritime applications allows sea waters to be monitored worldwide, irrespective of:
The service network, designed to improve the maritime border control and maritime situation awareness, also includes state of the art data fusion techniques to build an improved Maritime Picture from all available information sources and anomaly detection algorithms to identify suspicious behaviour and inconsistent reports on the generated maritime picture.
Maritime Surveillance services currently in operation, based on Earth Observation (EO) data integrated with ancillary information (such as vessel reporting systems data and meteorological oceanographic data), respond to the following priority operational requirements:
While MARISS is building up a network providing operational services, the DOLPHIN project is developing key technological and operational gap-filling innovations, leading in the mid-term to a full and sustainable operational exploitation of Earth Observation Satellites capabilities in the EU and MS maritime policies applications.
DOLPHIN aims at developing new tools providing effective improvements of the state-of-the-art capabilities in Maritime Surveillance.
DOLPHIN will respond to the specific Users needs, focused on Three policy areas selected as being in most need of improvement: Border Surveillance, Traffic Safety, Fisheries Control.
Each of the listed policy areas has specific needs which can be fulfilled by EO-based services and products, over and above the cross-cutting requirement for timely and reliable information, for the enhancement of situational awareness, and for the improvement of reaction capabilities. These general user requirements - as well as those listed below for the specific policy areas - cannot be fulfilled by the current state-of-the-art of technologies and available Space-based assets. The list includes:
In this innovative development context , the MARISS Service Network is notable with respect to its role in validating the R&D activities carried out within DOLPHIN through its operational benchmarking tests. The accomplishment of the DOLPHIN project’s objectives in collaboration with MARISS will result in the development of a competitive position for the consortia partners and will represent a significant step forward for GMES services in support to European Maritime Surveillance.