Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging phenomenon that enables ordinary devices to generate sensor dataand interact with one another to improve daily life. The maritime world has not escaped the influence of theIoT revolution. We are in the midst of a technological wave in which vessels are not the only ones carryingsensors (e.g. Global Positing System - GPS - or radar) anymore, as other maritime entities such as cranes,crates, boats, pickup trucks, etc. are being equipped with the same capabilities. This trend constitutes thebackbone of the so-called ""Maritime Internet of Things"" (mIoT).This project is about exploiting the tidal wave of sensor data emitted by a myriad of maritime entities (oractors) in order to improve both internal and collaborative processes for mIoT-related organizations; forinstance, think of a Port Authority adjusting its berthing and unloading schedules upon receiving notice that avessel has been delayed due to harsh weather conditions. The challenge addressed by this research project is thegeneration of actionable intelligence for Decision Support using Big Data analytics. Actionable intelligenceincludes anomalies, alerts, threats, potential response generation, process refinement and other types ofknowledge that improve the efficiency of a maritime-related organization and/or the manner in which itinteracts with other similar organizations. In Canada, full maritime domain awareness requires the surveyingof 10 million squared km across the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans, over 200 thousand km of coastline and5 million squared km of Arctic landmass. Given time, budget and resource constraints, this massiveundertaking requires large optimization efforts and systems (such as the one being proposed in the project) inorder to stand a chance.