The partnership of the SMART COAST 4.0 project for the development and implementation of new solutions based on Artificial Intelligence for the management of maritime space and the improvement of logistics efficiency, safety and security of port infrastructures, has met at the premises of PLOCAN.
The meeting was attended by representatives of agencies and entities in order to show and discuss the progress and milestones achieved to date while planning future activities and project challenges, including various validation tests in the waters of the test site of the Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructure.
PLOCAN, together with the company Qualitas Artificial Intelligence & Science (QAISC) -coordinator-, has been selected within the framework of the Ports 4.0 call, promoted by the public body Puertos del Estado, to undertake the SMART COAST 4.0 project for three years and with funding of 400,000 €.
The PORTS 4.0 capital fund is the open innovation corporate model adopted by the Spanish State Port Authority to attract, support and facilitate the application of talent and entrepreneurship to the Spanish port sector to facilitate its transition towards the 4.0 Economy.
The SMART COATS meeting was opened by the director of the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society, Javier Franco, the Councillor for Environment, Climate, Energy and Knowledge of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Raúl García Brink, the director of the company QAISC and coordinator of the project, Andrés Alonso-Martirena, and the director of PLOCAN, José Joaquín Hernández Brito, and brought together representatives of Puertos del Estado, the port authorities of Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Gijón, Ports de la Generalitat de Catalunya and Puertos de Canarias.
Representatives from the Directorate General of the Merchant Navy, SASEMAR, the Directorate General of Maritime Policy and Fisheries of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Directorate General of Coasts and Maritime Space Management of the Canary Islands, the Department of Security and Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Maritime Authorities of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Centre for Imaging Technologies (CTIM) belonging to the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria also took part.
The experts discussed PLOCAN and the test site; the operational needs of the platform and its environment; HF Radar system application cases; the new tool for coastal space management ‘Smart Coast Surveillance’ applied to the PLOCAN test site and the ANFI marina in the framework of the Smart Coast AI Solutions project; the approach to the application of Smart Coast Surveillance in the PLOCAN test site and the ANFI marina in the framework of the Smart Coast AI Solutions project; the Smart Coast Surveillance application approach in the ports of Gijón, Las Palmas and Tazacorte; AI Guard and Smart Coast Surveillance in Taliarte; and the Canary Islands as a major test site for the PLOCAN test site and the ANFI marina.
The Smart Coast project is based on the fusion of information provided by a new generation of in-situ sensors (optical cameras, thermal cameras, maritime radars, Lidar, etc.), integrated with information produced by third parties based on models, satellite data, etc., through the application of Artificial Intelligence and making use of advanced peripheral computing devices, 5G communications technologies and cloud services.
Among the technological developments that SMART COAST 4.0 intends to implement, ‘Maritime Safety’ and ‘AI Guard’ stand out.
‘Maritime Safety’ is a solution for measuring directional atmospheric visibility, measuring waves and overtopping on the coast, and monitoring and control of operations in anchorage areas, which will result in the generation of three products on the same equipment or hardware simultaneously, applying different AI algorithms in parallel.
‘AI Guard’ consists of a vessel detection and tracking station for safe navigation based on maritime radar, dual thermal-optical camera, AIS (automatic vessel identification system) receiver, satellite information and Artificial Intelligence, aiming, apart from navigation control and safety, at assisted coastal navigation and, in the long term, at remotely controlled and autonomous navigation.
PLOCAN will contribute to the development of SMART COAST 4.0 through specific infrastructures and technical capabilities such as a network of coastal cameras, an unmanned vessel and its testing area. The project has the support and collaboration of the port authorities of Las Palmas and Gijón as facilitating agents, in whose facilities SMART COAST 4.0 will test its technological solutions.
