The headquarters of the Canary Islands Ocean Platform (PLOCAN) has hosted the coordination meeting of the SMART COAST 4.0 project, led by the company QAISC (Qualitas Artificial Intelligence & Science), which has the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and PLOCAN itself as main partners, and with the support and collaboration of the Port Authorities of Las Palmas and Gijon, in whose facilities SMART COAST 4.0 will test its technological solutions.
SMART COAST 4.0, from to the Ports 4.0 Call promoted by the public entity Puertos del Estado, has as its main objective the improvement of logistics efficiency, security and protection of port infrastructures. To achieve this, the project is based on the information fusion provided by a new generation of in-situ sensors (optical and thermal cameras, maritime radars, Lidar, etc.), merged with third parties’ information from models, satellite data, etc., through the application of Artificial Intelligence and making use of advanced edge computing devices, 5G communications technologies and cloud services.
Among the technological developments that SMART COAST 4.0 intends to implement, “Maritime Safety” stands out, a solution for measuring directional atmospheric visibility, measuring waves and coast overtopping, and supervising and controlling operations in anchorage areas, enabling the generation of three products on the same hardware equipment simultaneously, applying different AI algorithms in parallel; and “AI Guard” which will consist of a vessel detection and tracking station for navigation safety based on maritime radar, dual thermal-optical camera, AIS receiver, satellite information and Artificial Intelligence, pointing, apart from navigation control and security, to assisted coastal navigation and, in the long term, to remote-controlled and autonomous navigation.
PLOCAN will contribute to the development of SMART COAST 4.0 through specific technical infrastructures and capabilities such as a network of coastal cameras, an uncrewed vessel and its marine testing area located at the East coast of Gran Canaria island.
The coordination meeting also included a technical visit to the Taliarte lighthouse facilities, managed by the Port Authority of Las Palmas, a location where SMART COAST 4.0 plans to implement monitoring systems aimed at increasing the potential of technological solutions aimed to be developed within its framework.
The PORTS 4.0 capital fund is the open innovation corporate model adopted by the Port Authority of the Spanish State to attract, support and facilitate the application of talent and entrepreneurship to the Spanish port sector to facilitate its transition towards Economy 4.0
