Defence technology
DTU researchers are developing advanced surveillance systems for boats that can detect suspicious activity below the sea surface. These systems will strengthen Denmark's ability to prevent and investigate attacks on critical infrastructure and detect attempts at espionage.
The maps are pieced together from data collected by the boats using a lidar laser, which scans everything above the water, and a sonar, which emits sound waves to map the shape of the seabed.
Because the maps contain geodata (i.e. information related to the physical surroundings, such as the topography of the seabed and landmarks on land), the vessels can navigate using them even if, for example, someone interferes with the GPS signals they normally use for navigation.
The researchers have tested the vessels' ability to generate the desired maps in Copenhagen's Sydhavn, among other places, Roberto Galeazzi says:
“As a pilot project, colleagues at DTU Aqua tested the equipment in response to a request from the City of Copenhagen, who wanted help scanning some of the side canals in the harbour. The city wanted to uncover the location of some old outlets.”
The test, which took place in November 2023, provided a map of all the pipes in much higher resolution than the existing maps, but more importantly for the researchers, the test showed that their idea works:
“We wanted to see if our sensor platform was suitable for integrating data from both the lidar and the sonar to create these seabed-to-sky maps, and we proved that it was.”
While the researchers are working on optimizing the vessels' data collection equipment, they are also collaborating with colleagues from Aalborg University to develop a software solution for the monitoring system. The solution will ensure that the vessels can safely exchange data with each other so that they know when to respond to anything out of the ordinary.
The new software will also make it possible to send the collected data to a shared repository in the cloud, where human operators can use it to decide how to handle a potential threat based on the overall picture. This could involve securing the area in question, obtaining further information about the threat or deploying units that can neutralize the threat.
Roberto Galeazzi dreams of eventually developing the concept into a fully autonomous system, where several vessels jointly patrol the sea continuously in search of suspicious objects or activities:
“This would set a new standard for continuous maritime surveillance and significantly strengthen our security by providing human operators with the knowledge they need to act quickly, accurately and safely.”
Although the current project is focused on monitoring hostile activity, the system can also be used for environmental monitoring in e.g., protected areas.
“If someone discharges pollution into a Natura 2000 area, it is obviously important that we detect it as quickly as possible so that we can contain the pollution and avoid damaging nature more than we already have. So, in that sense, the technology is “dual-use”,” Roberto Galeazzi explains.
Dual-use is a collective term for items or technologies that can be used for civilian purposes, but also for defence.
Facts
More than 70 per cent of our planet is covered by water, and Danish territorial waters alone cover approximately 105,000 km2. The world's oceans are estimated to contain a total of more than 1.3 billion km3 of water.
It is therefore a formidable task to keep an eye on whether everything is as it should be in the depths, which contain critical infrastructure in the form of, for example, submarine power and communication cables, gas pipelines and offshore wind farms.
Facts
The autonomous surveillance system is being developed in the MARESEC project with the participation of researchers from DTU and Aalborg University, as well as three companies: Tuco Marine, which builds boats, and UVision and Teledyne Marine, which both develop sensor equipment.
The project is funded by a grant from the National Defence Technology Centre.
In addition, four master's students have worked on the project as part of their theses. Among other things, they have worked on the integration of the various sensor technologies. One of them is now employed as a research assistant in the project.
The project will run until March 2026, when the partners expect to have prototypes of the system's hardware and software ready
Roberto Galeazzi Group Leader, Associate Professor Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering roga@dtu.dk