Simons
Ship Monitoring Suite
Ship Monitoring System
Simons is a ship monitoring system used to detect and track shops using a combination of Earth observation imaging and cooperative streaming technologies. The suite is conceived as a background processing module that can be integrated in value-added systems at a higher level. This modular vision extends to the internal architecture of Simons, with interconnected, high-efficiency independent submodules. Simons can work with any type of Earth observation imaging and cooperative streaming system, and supports all standard data formats. Output is provided via layers of information published with web services or an advanced GMV viewer called Socrates.
Milestones
Simons has been tested successfully in a wide range of operational campaigns under very diverse observation conditions and scopes of interest.
Localization of a small broken down vessel with migrants in quickly deteriorating health.
Localization of a ship suspected of conducting illegal fishing activities.
Localization of a group of ships traveling together to conduct illegal fishing activities.
Detection of oil spills at sea.
Service specifications are adapted to each type of use. The figures shown below are for guidance and general use.
| Quality descriptor | Value |
|---|---|
| Processing Time | 1 min for every 2M of image pixels. |
| Image Type | Either SAR (all brands) or Panchromatic Optical Image |
| Maritime Areas | Any (coastal, open seas, harbors) |
| Target Detection | Ships. Any other complex target, like static platforms or buoys, can be detected by using ancillary datasets. |
| Probability of Detection | >95% for ships with length > 4*image resolution |
| Probability of False Alarm | < 10% for ships with length > 4*image resolution |
| Absolute Length accuracy (Real vs estimated length) | ~75% |
| Relative Length accuracy (Real vs estimated length weighted by resolution cell dimensions) | ~90% |
| Target Categorization | Ships. Only available by using SAR imagery |
| Categorization rate | ~70% for ships with length > 12*image resolution |
| Categories | Oil Tanker, Container, Bulk, Coaster Cargo, Passenger Ferry, Large fishing, Medium/Small fishing, Patrol, Non-metallic |
| Target Tracking | Ships. Only available by processing AIS data |
| Ship Anomaly Detection | Rule-based. By fusing EO-based reports + AIS streams |
| Coastline Delineation |
Only for SAR Imagery. |
| Oil Spill Detection | Only for SAR Imagery. Probability of False Alarm < 20% for spills larger than 4* image resolution |
Data sources are flexible and can be adapted to each type of use. The sources shown below are for guidance and general use.
| Data Sources | Provider | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HR SAR Imagery Sentinel-1 (10 m of resolution Stripmap; 20-40 m of resolution for wide swath) | Copernicus Program | Open and Free No ad-hoc acquisitions |
| VHR SAR Imagery (TerraSAR-X, CosmoSkymed, Radarsat) | Private | Licensed Ad-hoc acquisitions |
| HR Optical Imagery Sentinel-2 (10m of resolution at visible band) | Copernicus Program | Open and Free No ad-hoc acquisitions |
| VHR Optical Imagery (Deimos, WorldView, Planet) (<1m of resolution) | Private | Licensed Ad-hoc acquisitions |
| AIS streams (exactEarth, IHS) | Private | Licensed Data streaming |
| Ancillary Datasets (Shore Lines, Buoys & Platforms Oceanographic) | Community Foundations | Open and Free High refreshing rate |
The output service is also flexible and can be adapted to each type of use.
| Output Format | Channel | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ESRI Shape | File WFS Web Service |
Geometries with attributes Ship (point) dynamics, category, confidence and id (AIS data is merged) Oil, Coast (multi-line) |
| XML file | File | Specific XML tree providing the same info than above |
| GeoTIFF | File WMS Web Service |
Down-scale version of input image Snippets of signatures of detected targets |