Dark vessel identification with satellite data

This PhD proposal will advance Surrey Space Centre (SSC) Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) tool NEREUS, by integrating a novel dark vessel identification framework to be designed, developed and validated on satellite data during this PhD.

In MDA tools, detection and classification blocks are fundamental to understand maritime patterns and quantify areas of high-density traffic, from which trends can be derived and intervention planned.

However, only the identification of a vessel (the ability to exactly name the vessel) can allow enforcement, enabling highly relevant applications in different sectors (insurance/financial, defence, surveillance and security, commercial, environmental, policies). The integration of a vessel identification framework in the NEREUS tool is then mandatory to expand its intelligence capabilities. 

The problem of vessel identification with satellites has not been addressed yet in literature and can only be investigated now thanks to the maturity of satellite technology and larger availability of open-source data.

This PhD project would address the research questions inherent to the problem of vessel identification with satellite data in the context of the NEREUS tool (benefitting from its existing components and collaborations). The project would reinforce our collaboration with international governments and maritime patrolling services with opportunity to validate findings in the territorial waters of NEREUS partners.

Maritime Domain Awareness is a strategic area of research for the Remote Sensing Applications group at the Surrey Space Centre which was awarded the Ocean Innovator nomination during the United Nations Development Programme Ocean Innovation Challenge. Our research activities in this domain are multidisciplinary and driven by the ambition to bring impact and solutions to real world problems. For this reason, and given the need to liaise with different international partners, we look for candidates with excellent communication and organizational skills in addition to a 1^st class degree in electronic engineering/remote sensing-related discipline. For the rest, the candidate will have to meet the minimum entry requirements for our PhD programme in Space Engineering.

Open to candidates who pay UK/home rate fees. See UKCISA for further information.