Inside a Planet Labs office. Photo: Planet

Planet Labs Federal, a subsidiary of Planet Labs, was awarded a contract by the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific for vessel detection and monitoring over key areas in the Pacific. 

The project will integrate both Planet’s SkySat data and PlanetScope data into the Department of Transportation’s SeaVision platform, a maritime situational awareness tool. The PlanetScope constellation will provide the SeaVision platform with a comprehensive view of millions of square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean. NIWC Pacific will utilize Planet’s SkySat data to capture finer detail. The SeaVision platform will adopt electro-optical imagery-derived vessel detections and tasked imagery to improve maritime domain awareness throughout the region. 

“NIWC Pacific continually pushes the bounds of innovating and advancing unmatched and disruptive technology in support of their operations,” said Jon Powers, Planet Federal’s general manager. “Planet possesses a unique broad area imagery collection of land and ocean areas in the Indo-Pacific.”

The contract also includes technology from Planet partner SynMaxto provide vessel detection using analytics technology. SynMax applied its Theia technology to meet the requirements of the NIWC Pacific project. This artificial intelligence  enhancement enables the detection of maritime events for revealing illegal unregulated (IUU) fishing, illicit ship-to-ship transfers, and vessel spoofing.