Ontology-based approach for vessel activity recognition

• Published in: OCEANS 2021: San Diego – Porto pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Zocholl, Maximilian, Iphar, Clement, Jousselme, Anne-Laure, Ray, Cyril
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: MTS 20.09.2021
• Subjects: Activity recognition; Fuzzy logic; fuzzy ontology; maritime situational awareness; Oceans; Ontologies; ontology; Semantics; Target recognition; Uncertainty; vessel activity; vessel behaviour
• DOI: 10.23919/OCEANS44145.2021.9705824

Recognising vessel activities like illegal fishing or human trafficking helps focusing resources and allows targeted inspections on suspicious vessels. This paper proposes an ontology-based approach for vessel activity recognition, aligned with prior works in the area of ontology-based activity recognition as well as with existing ontology design pattern including a discussion of the Common Core ontology. Existing definitions of vessel behaviours and activities are reviewed and summarised in a shared conceptualisation. The semantic description is technology-independent, supports portability and allows making a first step towards a combined data- and knowledge-driven vessel activity recognition, for an increased interpretability of information sources. A generic design pattern is proposed to cover more specific existing and potential future vessel activity definitions in a common way. We argue that the modelling and exploitation of uncertain information is a key enabler for vessel activity recognition, given the large variability of vessel behaviours and inherent uncertainty related to their intent.