M4D/MKLAB is happy to announce the kick off of our exciting new project ISOLA aiming at fighting piracy, protect cruise lines on voyage, safeguard on board passengers and ensure that ships are well equipped to handle challenging situations.
The project’s main mission is to optimize the security of cruise ships. This will be achieved with the adoption of a holistic solution that combines (i) AI and computer vision (ii) intelligent monitoring (iii) UAVs and chemical detectors (iv) early detection of threats to minimize any potential danger, detect incidents, abate thefts and episodes due to alcohol or drugs consumption and last but not least effectively mitigate cyber security dangers.
Cruise ships today can carry more than 5500 passengers and 2200 crew members for an average time of seven days per trip without concerning the turnovers which actually consisting a small miracle of coordination. The cruising industry makes up a large proportion of the tourism market, and demand is on the rise. As pirates might indeed attack and unpleasant and illegal incidents might hinder passenger safety and industry growth the necessity of creating innovative platforms and systems arises to ensure the safety of the ships and their passengers. Now, researchers in the EU project ISOLA will develop a platform that combines novel technologies aiming to assist the ship passengers and crew security. The idea is to utilize different types of sensors and smart devices deployed in several areas of the ship as well as Unmanned Vehicles (UxVs), and mobile applications to enhance the security awareness of the ship, deploying alert level warnings and crew security mitigation actions.
The project has started in September 2020 and will last for three years. At the end of the project, there will be a prototype that could be developed into a product of the participating companies that are interested in bringing ISOLA into the market as an innovative solution in ship security. ISOLA will be validated, tested and demonstrated on 5 pilots in cruise ships.
AIRBUS co-ordinates the project and M4D/MKLAB ITI CERTH is the scientific and technical manager with 24 partners (universities and companies) from 10 different countries.