Collisions between ships and large cetaceans are the number one reason for unnatural death for marine mammals, which are currently classified as threatened in the IUCN red list of endangered species. The SEADETECT project proposes an innovative solution to limit this risk.
Financed by the European LIFE program, SEADETECT is a new project aiming to develop and demonstrate innovative solutions to significantly reduce the risks of collision between ships and cetaceans. The objective is to detect cetaceans as far in advance as possible in order to modify ship routes if necessary and avoid collisions.
The SEA DETECT solution will consist of three complementary systems:
- An on-board multi-sensor “DETECT BOX”: daylight visible band color camera + near infrared and thermal infrared band camera + LIDAR + RADAR and a powerful data fusion and AI system to merge the data and classify the detection.
- A network of passive acoustic monitoring buoys to detect and geolocate marine mammals and allow the identification of protected corridors for vessels.
- An application to share the detection of whales and other obstacles with vessels in the area.
NEXVISION, as an expert in embedded vision systems and high-performance computers, will handle the entire optronic part (visible color camera, near infrared and thermal infrared, including image processing and analysis algorithms as well as the embedded computer).
Beyond participating in a project that makes sense for the protection of nature, the whole Nexvision team is very excited to realize this system alongside experts such as SIREHNA, GREENOV, QUIET OCEANS, ONERA, DIADES MARINE, VERITAS, LA MERIDIONALE, TETHYS, ROYAL BELGIAN INSTITUTE OF NATURAL SCIENCES and the UNIVERSITY OF GHENT.
This innovative project will last until August 2026.
