The maritime domain is a notoriously difficult and dangerous environment in which to work. It is hard to identify vessels remotely, especially those which do not wish to be identified, and even harder to determine what a vessel may be doing. Currently maritime situational awareness is built primarily on the transponder anti-collision system, AIS. This Automatic Identification System is only mandatory for vessels over a certain size (300 tonnes) and is susceptible to erroneous transmissions, areas of poor reception and (often deliberately) incorrect operation. Moreover, many threats come from smaller vessels which are not obliged to transmit on AIS and are harder to spot on other sensors. SiriusInsight.AI has developed a system This project aims to use novel methods of detecting, identifying and tracking small vessels (less than 10m) without transponders, by enabling a future network of autonomous sensor platforms to transform the information available to stakeholders without overburdening them with data deluge. Sirius has already demonstrated the proof of concept to the UK Government with remote sensors (both at sea and on headlands) and, based upon strong support, now aims to develop artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver 'insights' from a large-scale deployment of such sensors both in UK and overseas.

As an island nation, the sea provides the UK with an important line of defence to protect it from unwanted visitors. However, the marine domain is a notoriously difficult and dangerous environment in which to operate which makes traditional patrolling surveillance methods expensive. As a result, the country's maritime monitoring capabilities are now very limited at a time when there is increasing need to have situational awareness of UK territorial waters. SiriusInsight has developed a capability to use artificial intelligence to analyse remotely sourced data (both satellite and terrestrial) which avoids the need for human involvement in either the data collection or its processing. SiriusInsight will use its InnovateUK Smart Grant to develop further this capability in order to detect and identify smaller vessels of the kind commonly used in the smuggling of drugs, people and contraband. In so doing, it brings together state-of-art approaches in artificial intelligence, computer vision, pattern of life analysis and anomaly detection that can be used for monitoring and alerting in a way which will greatly enhance coverage at minimal cost relative to the alternatives. This technology has a wide range of monitoring applications and potential users including Maritime Coastguard (sea safety and environment), Border Force (illegal migration and smuggling) and DEFRA (fishery protection). Real-time situational awareness based on the SiriusInsight product can also be used to enhance collision avoidance for commercial shipping with particular application for vessels with restricted ability to manoeuvre (like survey vessels) and autonomous shipping. There are also applications for enhanced pattern of life analysis in planning for offshore developments like wind farms. Combining artificial intelligence with the marine domain brings together two areas where the UK has the opportunity to continue as a world leader. The InnovateUK grant will not only secure employment in the UK for leading AI engineers but also help SiriusInsight maintain the country's leading position in this field.

As an island nation, the sea offers the UK an important line of defence to protect it from unwanted visitors. However, the marine domain is a notoriously difficult and dangerous environment in which to operate which makes traditional patrolling surveillance methods expensive. As a result, the country's maritime monitoring capabilities are now quite limited at a time when there is increasing need to have situational awareness of UK territorial waters. SiriusInsight has developed a capability to use artificial intelligence to analyse remotely sourced data (both satellite and terrestrial) which avoids the need for human involvement in either the data collection or its processing. SiriusInsight will use its Innovate grant to develop further this capability, bringing together and enhancing current state-of-art approaches from other domains, and train its algorithms in pattern of life analysis so that it can be used for monitoring and alerting in a way which will greatly enhance coverage at minimal cost relative to the alternatives. This technology has a wide range of monitoring applications and potential users: e.g. sea safety (Coastguard), illegal migration and smuggling (Border Force) and fishery protection (DEFRA). Real-time situational awareness based on the SiriusInsight product can also be used to enhance collision avoidance for commercial shipping with particular application for vessels with restricted ability to manoeuvre (like survey vessels) and autonomous shipping. There are also applications for enhanced pattern of life analysis in planning for offshore developments like wind farms. Combining artificial intelligence with the marine domain brings together two areas where the UK has the opportunity to continue as a world leader. This Innovate grant will not only secure employment in the UK for leading AI engineers but also help SiriusInsight maintain the country's leading position in this field.

**This collaborative project between Sirius Constellation Ltd and Kings College London will look at the technical feasibility of applying a number of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to the ever increasing amount of near or actual real-time satellite data (and other) that is becoming available to commercial and defence operators in order to provide more accurate and trusted assessments and enable more efficient use of available assets.** Using a vast amount of data drawn from multiple sources (satellite earth observation, Automated Identification Systems, terrestrial and satellite radar, optical and infra-red imagery, and others), the system will apply advanced and innovative AI technology to provide the operator with an uncluttered, consolidated picture of the situation as well as a detailed analysis of the environment, in which attention is drawn to unusual activities. Responses to developing situations will be proposed. Significantly, through the use of Explainable AI (xAI), an operator will be able to understand why the platform has drawn a particular conclusion or recommended response. This project will develop the use of AI and xAI tools for use with near-real-time situational awareness information, demonstrating the commercial and operational benefits. The developed system will provide an operator with an uncluttered picture of activity by displaying contacts (vessels etc) that have been detected and tracked by one or multiple sensors. The picture will be continuously analysed and the operator presented with an intelligent analysis highlighting anomalies and changes that might influence his particular operation. This application of AI and xAI will generate significant operational efficiencies, significantly in the need for fewer analysts and fewer, more efficiently employed assets (e.g. ships/aeroplanes). There are numerous potential applications, for example: * the monitoring of a commercial supply chain with analysis of the consequences of any disruption; * routine surveillance of an area for security purposes; * the efficient management of port activities; * the monitoring of, and response to illegal fishing; * the management of a commercial shipping fleet dealing with the day-to-day requirements to respond to changes in tasks, weather, security and vessel efficiency; * military operations. The project will advance Kings College London's knowledge and understanding of state-of-the art Artificial Intelligence and feed into future capabilities of Sirius Constellation Ltd, leading to significant job creation and export opportunities.