Kpler and Airbus Launch Satellite Service to Detect Vessels With No AIS Signal

Maritime data provider Kpler has reached an agreement with Airbus to add a daily satellite vessel-detection service to its maritime tracking network. The initiative aims to identify vessels that stop reliably transmitting their AIS (Automatic Identification System) signal, whether because they deliberately switch it off, spoof it, or suffer interference in satellite navigation systems.

The service will use high-resolution imagery captured daily by Airbus's SPOT Earth observation satellites, with a resolution of 1.5 meters and a swath width of 60 kilometers. That imagery will be combined with artificial intelligence to detect vessels both at sea and in port, independently of what each ship's AIS reports.

According to the sources, the tool's main goal is to differentiate between vessels that deliberately manipulate their position to conceal their movements and cases of widespread interference in satellite navigation systems (GNSS) that affect several vessels equally in the same area. Kpler had previously identified the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the Black Sea, the Baltic and the Red Sea among the regions most affected by this type of interference, and noted that the expanded capability could also prove useful for monitoring sanctions evasion and the operation of so-called shadow fleets.

Jean-Charles Gordon, Kpler's Vice President of Maritime and Logistics, said that no single data source tells the whole story, and that by combining AIS data with satellite imagery and other independent sources, the maritime industry and governments can be given a clearer, more complete and verifiable picture of what is happening at sea. He added that this combination helps distinguish between widespread signal disruptions and deliberate attempts by individual vessels to evade detection.

AIS remains the primary means of tracking commercial shipping, with Kpler's network capturing billions of messages daily that include vessels' position, speed, course and destination. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement, nor did they specify when the expanded detection service will be fully operational.