With the increasing sophistication of threats to coastal states, effective modern maritime border security requires the ability to identify suspicious behaviour and respond at the speed of relevance.  In this short article, we review how a data-driven approach to delivering maritime surveillance at scale provides real-time understanding about activities in national waters, assisting homeland security organisations such as law enforcement and border security forces to comprehend the connections between activites in home waters and overseas, helping to combat cross-border crime from the sea.  These are themes that we also look forward to discussing with delegates at the World Border Security Congress this week.

Challenges facing maritime law enforcement and border security forces  

Law enforcement and border security forces are responsible for countering complex challenges in increasingly congested national waters - upholding the rights and freedoms of lawful movement while interrupting nefarious activities including the transportation and smuggling of illicit goods, human trafficking, irregular migration, illegal fishing, and protecting critical national infrastructure, offshore installations and ports.  Acting under domestic law in territorial waters (as provided for under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) framework), the fundamental challenge is to understand when something unsual is happening against a background of general maritime activity that, on the whole, are not required to report their identity and intentions compulsorarily.  And to find a solution that meets the operational needs against a backdrop of competing resource reality.

Maritime border security coherence through a Whole System Approach  

A modern maritime border security solution should bring coherence across: 

• command planning to achieve high-level objectives that are based on evidence-based policy priorities and assessment of data, including international collaboration against shared, cross-border threats such as serious and organised crime  
• surveillance at scale using the most suitable data sources, selected to satisy the operational requirements and generate a superior level of situational awareness 
• operational analysis of observed activity against historical track data against known patterns of life, and identifying vessels that are high risk due to its previous routing e.g. proximity to other vessels of interest
• inter-departmental cooperation to ensure the efficient use of expensive assets 
• tactical response action to automated anomaly alerts, through robust and timely law enforcement

Modernisation through a data-driven approach  

Traditional thinking sees the means of maritime border surveillance as hardware-centric, requiring significant investment and long procurement cycles.  Now, the rapid evolution of technology makes it possible to enhance maritime border security through agile, software-led, and data-driven solutions, solving the problem of cost-effective surveillance at scale.  By processing vast amounts of data from distributed maritime sensors, AI technology can analyse images from satellites, aircraft, UAVs, shore-based, and surface assets. This data, fused with other data sources, generates real-time alerts which are high in confidence and tailored to meet the operational needs of maritime authorities. 

Sirius Insight’s solutions - get in touch  

As maritime threats continue to evolve, a data-driven approach provides the flexibility to evolve.  Using a modular approach, it is possible to commission, adapt and scale-up the sensor network quickly, maximising what commercially available, relatively low-cost equipment can deliver.  Sirius Insight’s solutions are an example of this new approach: hardware agnostic, we exploit data from existing hardware or supply supplementary commercial-off-the-shelf sensors, analysing and presenting the data to users through Insight, our web-based platform.

With an established track record of working with the UK and other governments, we provide law enforcement and border security forces with the right information at the right time to combat cross-border crime from the sea.  We support homeland maritime defence organisations and maritime security agencies to stay ahead of emerging challenges, ensuring the integrity of territorial waters and sea borders.  Our family of products include:

• Pulsar provides real-time surveillance for the security of coastal waters, enabling tracking and classification through radar, electro-optical, and radio-frequency analysis.
• Pulsar Nano offers localised surveillance of inshore waters, ports, and estuaries, creating a comprehensive library of all vessels operating within these areas.
• Nautar integrates patrol vessels and afloat sensors, allowing real-time observation and data collection from vessel-based sensors, enabling law enforcement vessels to see the overall maritime picture.
• Quasar extends surveillance with UAV-based Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) monitoring of the EEZ, utilising intelligent routing informed by coastal or other surveillance assets.

For further information, please visit us at World Border Security Congress in Madrid, 25-27 March, to discuss how Sirius Insight can help to solve a data-driven approach to combatting cross-border crime from the sea.