Artificial Intelligence based Virtual Control Room for the Arctic (AI-ARC)

Project Information

AI-ARC

Grant agreement ID: 101021271

DOI

10.3030/101021271

Project closed

EC signature date 21 April 2021

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 29 February 2024

Funded under

• Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens

Total cost

€ 6 889 792,50

EU contribution

€ 6 889 792,50

Coordinated by

LAUREA-AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY
Finland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AI-ARC (Artificial Intelligence based Virtual Control Room for the Arctic (AI-ARC))

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The main objective of the AI-ARC project is to create an innovative, robust, efficient, and user-friendly artificial intelligence (AI) based platform that meets and exceeds the above-mentioned needs and provides powerful levels of situational awareness for decision-making and safety for all maritime actors without increasing workload. To achieve this objective the AI-ARC Consortium will use AIS, Copernicus, VDES, and other data sources to inform and build a Virtual Control Room (VCR). The VCR will incorporate machine learning technology, plus real and virtual reality (VR) components that combined will create a mixed-reality (MR) visualization layer and high-performance user interface, usable from different perspectives such as Coast Guards’ or civilian users’ and will be tested in both the Arctic and High North.

The cooperation between authorities in different countries is challenging not only because authorities have different mandates and tasks in each Artic country, but also because the incompatibility of maritime surveillance data formats between different countries complicates the exchange of information. Data exchange might be difficult even between authorities in the same country. Difficulties in exchanging information might often be due to different legislation and not all the necessary information can be passed to other countries even if the need for information would be clearly understood. This is not such a big challenge only between EU countries, but especially between the EU and the third countries. AI-ARC solution will bring VCR to all Coast Guard authorities with open and useful information. This in turn will increase cooperation due to the possibility to share smoothly not only information but also capabilities in case of emergency situations. It supports improved cooperation and communication among Arctic member states’ border and/or coast guard authorities in the wake of increased Arctic maritime traffic and the increased potential for maritime border incidents and response, including satellite-assisted dark vessel detection (AIS disabled vessels), illegal fishing, and environmental surveillance.

The value of the proposed project applies not just to Coast Guards, Search and Rescue operators, and remote communities, but also to private enterprises such as the fishing and cruise industries, commercial shipping, oil spill response, seabed mining, and offshore oil drilling industries. Additionally, commercial attractiveness and investor interest are piqued by the increased levels of security provided by these services.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the project period, the planned objectives were completed, and the project has progressed and has been finalised as planned.

The coordinating team at Laurea together with the rest of the Project Steering Team (PST) have been managing the project’s progress from the start, having regular meetings to discuss the progress of the project, any potential risks and the project results.

The project D&C team has publicised the ideas and capabilities of AI-ARC to a wide audience across Europe, via presentations at conferences, network events, newspaper articles, and social media. In particular, this work has sought to provide guidance to policy makers regarding ways the AI-ARC system can leverage the EU’s significant investment in the CISE platform, to provide increased safety and security at sea, for civilian mariners, law enforcement agencies and search and rescue authorities. This advocacy culminated in the three significant project events towards the end of the project: the Baltic demonstration in Karlskrona, Sweden; the Arctic demonstration in Reykjavik, Iceland; and the Final Stakeholder Event in Brussels.

Unfortunately, due to several reasons, the AI-ARC project could not use the CISE Node in the development phase (please see section 5 for more detailed information). However, to use the advantages and interoperability of CISE, the project decided to use the publicly available CISE data model in combination with Apache Kafka as an alternative for exchanging data. The CISE data model was widely adapted in several EU projects like MARISA, ANDROMEDA, and RANGER. A data exchange based on Apache Kafka was done in EU projects like MARISA, ANDROMEDA, CUTLER, and OCEAN2020. Therefore, the AI-ARC project can build upon already-gained insights to accelerate the process. For this, available documents on the use of Kafka and CISE were reviewed to derive possible solutions. Furthermore, scientists at Fraunhofer IOSB, LAUREA, and SAMPAS who participated in the before-mentioned projects have key roles in the development of the AI-ARC architecture and can advise and steer other project partners in executing the switch to the new messaging system.

The project has instead used the Apache Kafka server to substitute the Arctic-CISE node as the information-sharing solution for now. Transitioning to CISE remains possible as soon as a licensing solution is found.

Overall, it can be stated that the project has been completed as planned and no deviations affecting the progress in a major way has occurred.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The AI-ARC project has created a standardized Virtual Control Room (VCR) to enhance the capabilities and cooperation abilities of both maritime authorities/practitioners, and private operators. The platform improves the overall situational awareness, risk management, resource planning, reaction and operational capabilities, and overall effectiveness. The VCR platform has been designed to support interoperability with different data sources and surveillance systems in order to facilitate improved information exchange and collaboration
among different authorities while improving safety and security within the Arctic and broader EU maritime areas. Additionally, predictive capabilities has been added which are a natural addition to any VCR, and provide challenges to AI design.

The progress beyond the state of the art of each significant innovation can be summarised with the following main points:

- Coast Guard and maritime surveillance interoperability (CISE)
- Virtual Control Room
- Data acquisition and fusion (IO-Data and AIS)
- Anomaly detection (Several)
- Navigation event detection (Naval traffic behavior)
- Intent recognition
- Detection of illegal activities
- Risk assessment (probability and consequence)
- Ship route representation and prediction
- In-situ reporting
- Ice pack model
- End-user involvement (operational capability)

Effective management of borders has a variety of societal impacts, primarily in ensuring that borders remain under surveillance and are controlled. This means that the AI-ARC solution enhances security and thus citizens will improve their perception of safety; promoting peace and the well-being of citizens in Europe; building and sustaining an area of freedom, security, and justice; upholding and promoting the Union’s values in its relations with the wider world and supporting empowerment and defense of citizens. Notwithstanding European
seas have not been directly involved in any recent dangerous terrorist incident, the risks of intentional attacks are something that we must prepare for and AI-ARC enforces increasing security considerations and operations that could be beneficial for future adoption and use. Through the anomaly detection functionalities, the AI ARC solution will also provide indicators for these types of incidents which add to the overall security impact.

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