AI Revolutionizes Maritime Navigation Safety

AI Revolutionizes Maritime Navigation Safety

Advanced AI and thermal imaging technology are transforming maritime safety. This system enhances situational awareness by identifying potential hazards like debris vessels and wildlife even in challenging low visibility conditions.

The Challenge of Navigating in Low Visibility

Imagine being at the helm of a commercial vessel or part of a search and rescue team in rough seas at night. Radar is picking up objects and your night vision camera picks up shapes but you have no idea if they are waves whales or a shipping container bobbing at the surface. AI and thermal imaging tech enhance situational awareness helping commercial crews detect hazards like debris vessels and wildlife in low visibility conditions.

Introducing SEA.AI A Visionary Solution

If your boat has SEA.AI a computer based machine vision system the technology could identify objects in more detail than the human eye can provide and alert crewmembers about what is in front of them.

The Genesis of SEA.AI A Personal Mission

The Austria based company was founded in 2018 after an autonomous driving engineer had a harrowing experience while boating at night with his father unable to see anything ahead of the boat. Solenn Gouerou head of marketing and communications at SEA.AI said He felt his father had not equipped the boat with a system to assist. But when he searched for one to buy he realized there was nothing available.

Market Presence and System Growth

SEA.AI currently has more than 600 systems in the field primarily in Europe and a database of more than 18 million annotated marine objects. That database is continuously growing and is updated regularly. The company has added employees in the US and is hoping to expand its footprint in the commercial search and rescue and military segments. Some of the company early collaborations were with sailors in the Vendée Globe an around the world single handed sailboat race. Gouerou said We started the project with a couple of the racing teams to develop the product specifications how strong it should be what characteristics for the alarms and how much it should weigh.

How SEA.AI Technology Works

Gouerou explained that AI artificial intelligence involves training the machine to properly identify objects. Before a computer can identify something it needs input from a camera that can see farther and sharper than the human eye. SEA.AI uses Teledyne FLIR cameras for its Sentry system used in commercial military search and rescue vessels and superyachts. The self contained unit weighs just under 10 lbs while the lighter Competition model weighs 1.5 lbs and mounts high on the mast of a racing sailboat. SEA.AI is compatible with multifunction displays from Garmin Furuno B&G Navico Simrad and Raymarine plus computer and smartphone technology including Apple Android Windows and Linux. If a boat already has a FLIR camera it can be linked to the SEA.AI brain.

The cameras link to the SEA.AI brain that is the heart of the system. The brain is constantly updated as technicians train it and add floating objects to the database. Because SEA.AI relies on optical and thermal sensors it can not see objects below the surface. Gouerou said Our AI was not immediately effective. We had to train it to tell the difference between waves sun reflections moon reflections and real objects.

Enhancing Situational Awareness

SEA.AI adds to a user situational awareness by being able to identify a target vessel that might not have AIS technology. Gouerou said The only thing that could see them is a thermal camera. Then we put AI on top of that and the computer sends the alarm.

In a real world situation the camera sees what is in front of a vessel and then the machine analyzes each pixel of each image the camera captures. If it detects something that is not water the computer cross references multiple images and identifies it as an object provided it is in the database. That includes whales when they surface which could be key to preventing vessel collisions with the largest mammals in the ocean.

Real World Performance and Detection Ranges

Looking at some numbers the SEA.AI system with the Sentry unit can see a small object like a buoy or person overboard up to 2300 feet away a dinghy or tender up to 1.9 miles away and a private pleasure or sailing craft up to 4.7 miles away. It can pick up a large vessel as far away as the horizon weather permitting.

Advanced Features Beyond Detection

In addition to object detection with Sentry SEA.AI can be used for target tracking collision avoidance and establishing perimeter surveillance with 360 degree scanning of the surroundings. It will send alerts for approaching objects that have entered a preset perimeter. With eight times electronic zoom it can also investigate areas of interest and forward panning can pick up impending collision risks with objects in the vessel path.

System Compatibility Installation and Investment

The basic installation kit includes 10 meter power and data cables a 24 24 volt converter to ensure stable voltage an Ethernet coupler and a spare fuse. Bump up to the professional installation kit and get a SEA.AI joystick and cable a ShipModul MiniPlex N2K Ethernet gateway and an NMEA 2000 backbone with four connection points male and female resistors power cable with fuse and drop cable. The camera and black box draw minimal power so there is no strain on a vessel battery bank according to SEA.AI.

Pricing for the Sentry camera unit starts at 46990 dollars and the SEA.AI Brain retails for 8990 dollars.