VITO and Intersoft Electronics Services join forces to detect and identify ‘invisible’ vessels in the North Sea
How do you detect and identify vessels that are deliberately trying to stay off the radar? That is the challenge VITO and Intersoft Electronics Services are addressing together in the NonCoOp project, with support from VLAIO and the Flemish defence plan.
Non-cooperative vessels involved in illegal activities or sabotage are increasingly switching off or manipulating their AIS (Automatic Identification System) signal in order to become ‘invisible’. This makes detection and tracking significantly more difficult.
VITO and Intersoft Electronics Services are combining their expertise to make these ‘dark’ vessels visible again. Intersoft Electronics Services uses ground-based RF (radio frequency) sensors and data platforms to capture characteristic radio signals. VITO then applies advanced AI to translate those signals into a unique RF fingerprint for each vessel. By linking these digital fingerprints to satellite data and historical profiles, maritime authorities can still identify vessels, even when no AIS signal is available.
This innovative approach strengthens security in the North Sea region and contributes to better protection of critical infrastructure, such as offshore energy installations, data cables and ports. At the same time, the project aligns with the growing security and defence domain, a strategic field in which VITO continues to expand its portfolio.
