Detecting Search and Rescue Missions from AIS Data

Abstract

The crossing of the Mediterranean by refugees has turned to be an extremely perilous activity. Human operators that handle Search and Rescue (SAR) missions need all the help they can muster in order to timely discover and assist in the coordination of the operations. In this work we present a tool that automatically detects SAR missions in the sea, by employing Automatic Identification System (AIS) data streams. The approach defines three steps to be taken: a) trajectory compression for affordable real time analysis in the presence of big data; b) detection of sub-operations to which a SAR mission is actually decomposed, and; c) synthesis of multiple vessels' inferred behavior to determine an ongoing SAR mission and its details. The evaluation results are promising showing that AIS data carry highly valuable information even in the absence of any other type of data that could make the problem easier (e.g. coast guard signals).