It is paramount to base vessel noise mitigation on complete, accurate and timely information about the traffic. While Maritime Domain Awareness significantly improved, many gaps remain. Vessel monitoring systems are composed of a mixture of tracking systems such as radio call-ins, shore-based radar, Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) and shore-based Automated Identification Systems (AIS). These systems tend to be concentrated around major ports, do not extend far from shore, or provide vessel information with low resolution spatially and/or temporally. Since AIS became mandatory for ships of 500 gross tonnage and upwards and some smaller vessels, technology has been under development to capture these AIS signals via satellite (S-AIS). S-AIS provides high resolution and extensive vessel monitoring covering most of the world’s oceans. Our project partner, exactEarth is a world leader in collecting and processing S-AIS data.
We propose to improve the maritime picture by: (a) incorporating many sources of traffic data; and (b) performing advanced data cleaning and data mining to elicit the maximum possible reliable information from available datasets. We will calculate vessel use patterns using AIS, S-AIS, MCTS INNAV (Information System on Marine Navigation) and LRIT (Long-Range Identification and Tracking) data that will provide a fairly complete picture of vessel traffic. A shore-based AIS station will be installed in Sachs Harbour. We will also rely on NASP (National Air Surveillance Program) planes to acquire orthophotos, AIS snapshots and side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) over the Salish Sea from which small vessel distribution and density at various temporal resolutions will be derived.
Reseach Team
- Rosaline Canessa, University of Victoria
- Stan Matwin, Dalhousie University
- Rodolphe Devillers, Memorial University
Partners
- exactEarth
- Transport Canada
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada
