JRC and Italy collaborate to improve ship positioning service

The Joint Research Centre and Italian coastguard have together developed a new service to ensure the accuracy of ship positioning, which are reported using the Automatic Identification System (AIS).

The new process uses data verification methods that can be introduced at AIS base stations and combines radio-location method based on Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) with an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), which is used to track vessels in geodetic co-ordinates. Often the AIS system can be inaccurate and is prone to tampering and data manipulation.

The new method has been tested and shows a difference between the estimated origin of detected signals and the broadcast position data, thus demonstrating its validity. The new method requires no new sensors or technologies and overcomes any inaccuracies of reported data and unintentionally incorrect, jammed or deliberately falsified information reported by ships. The JRC receives funding from Horizon 2020.