DOLPHIN

Development of Pre-operational Services for Highly Innovative Maritime Surveillance Capabilities

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Taking benefit from the previous and on-going efforts in the GMES context, the DOLPHIN project intends to develop the 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 with respect to Users’ real needs in particular through filling their present technological gaps. The identification of these technological gaps is made easier by the fact that the DOLPHIN partners have developed a solid experience through a number of past and on going initiatives, such as LIMES, MARISS, MarCoast, EMSA CSN, in which a wide European Users community in the Maritime Surveillance sector has already taken an active part in identifying application needs and technological gaps. DOLPHIN will respond to the specific Users need, focused on Users’ missions, through the development of Decision Support Modules (DSM) which will integrate innovative Software Tools, aiming at filling the identified technological gaps according to specific policy-driven requirements and scenarios. Five policy areas have been selected as being in most need of improvement: Border Surveillance, Traffic Safety, Environmental Protection, Fisheries Control and Search and Rescue. Each policy area has categories of users that are quite different, so each policy area will be addressed through a specific DSM. Users will play an important role in the consolidation of the operational scenarios, to ensure that they are significant and representative of the complexity of the requirements. They will also be involved in the validation of the Operational Scenarios, when modules will be integrated in operational Services Chains and their actual effectiveness will be measured on the basis of the given definition.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Seas and oceans are massive, providing cover for many clandestine activities and environmental hazards. An EU initiative developed a new surveillance system using sensor and Earth observation (EO) data to help monitor marine activity much more closely.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The EU is seeking to improve maritime surveillance capability, for instance through new innovative software tools using EO data. Viable solutions include developing decision support modules (DSMs) that aim to provide actual, measurable and effective support for users' decision-making processes.

Funded by the EU, the 'Development of pre-operational services for highly innovative maritime surveillance capabilities' (http://www.gmes-dolphin.eu/ (DOLPHIN)) project took up this challenge.

The project outlined operational requirements for the DSMs with support from previous Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) projects, open source information, relevant reports and DOLPHIN partners. New software algorithms were developed so that generated data can be used by external European and national systems, while the software itself will feed the DSMs for each of the three identified policy areas: border surveillance, traffic safety and fisheries control.

To enhance maritime border surveillance, maritime traffic safety and security, and the fight against illegal fishing activities at sea, project members first addressed several technological gaps. These include more timely and reliable information, improvement of situational awareness and increase of reaction capabilities through the provision of reliable DSMs.

The developed software tools and DSMs are designed for use in regular operations. They will improve the monitoring activities of port and maritime authorities, coast guards and law enforcement agencies in the main policy areas. Specifically, stakeholders will benefit from enhanced detection of small or fast boats widely used for drug trafficking and illegal immigration, and improved monitoring to reduce the risk of ship collisions, piracy, transportation of hazardous goods and illegal fishing activity.

DOLPHIN brought novel technological and operational advances to maritime surveillance, from increasing the precision of information to the pace of decision making. Stakeholders can look forward to a brighter future for the detection and monitoring of seafaring vessels.

Innovative high-tech solutions include better radar processing, feature extraction and recognition for fast and/or small boats, multi-sensor data fusion for traffic safety and sea-state modelling. The project's solutions will enable users to localise vessels more accurately, detect smaller ships. Undoubtedly, these capabilities will play a pivotal role in enhancing safety and security on the seas.