Vessel Dark Activity Detection Using AIS Shutdown Path Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for identifying maritime criminal activities, such as sanctions evasion and illicit cargo transfers, are inadequate as they fail to account for vessel behavior and require substantial computational resources, making real-time detection challenging.
Innovation Solution
A method that analyzes shutdown events in AIS signals to identify potential dark activities by determining if a vessel has sufficient time to perform a maritime event, generates potential travel paths, and verifies these events using satellite or drone imagery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If comprehensive maritime data analysis is performed to identify criminal activities, then detection accuracy is improved, but computational resources and processing time are excessively consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the maritime data analysis process into distinct modules: AIS signal monitoring module, shutdown event detection module, travel path generation module, and satellite imagery verification module. Each module processes specific aspects of dark activity detection independently, reducing the computational burden on any single component while maintaining comprehensive detection accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis by generating potential travel paths and filtering suspicious shutdown events before committing extensive computational resources to full verification. By pre-identifying vessels with shutdown durations exceeding travel time between locations, the system reduces the volume of data requiring intensive processing while maintaining high detection accuracy.
2Speed
If real-time monitoring of AIS signals is implemented, then detection speed is improved, but system complexity and resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer that receives AIS signals and translates them into structured shutdown event records. This intermediary layer filters and normalizes raw data before passing it to analysis modules, reducing system complexity while enabling real-time detection through standardized data flow and modular processing architecture.
3Reliability
If verification using satellite or drone imagery is performed, then evidence reliability is improved, but time consumption and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial verification by using satellite or drone imagery only for suspicious shutdown events that meet specific criteria (shutdown duration exceeding travel time, presence of maritime events in the path). This selective approach maintains high evidence reliability for confirmed cases while minimizing time consumption by avoiding verification of all shutdown events.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method, system (100) and product comprising: obtaining location-reporting signals of a vessel indicating that the vessel was located at a first geographical position prior to a shutdown event and at a second geographical position after the shutdown event; determining a distance between the first and second geographical positions; determining an estimated time to travel the distance based on the location-reporting signals; comparing the estimated time to the duration of the shutdown event, to determine whether the vessel had sufficient time to perform a dark activity that is associated with a maritime event; generating (220) a potential travel path from the first geographical position to the second geographical position, wherein the potential travel path comprises the maritime event; obtaining images that correspond to the duration of the shutdown event and to the potential travel path; and verifying (230) that the maritime event occurred based on an analysis of the images.