PAGE CONTENTS
Objectives
MARLIN provides:
- a means for regulators and certification bodies to effectively and efficiently monitor responsible fishing at scale,
- a solution for fishermen seeking to simply and efficiently report fishing activity to regulators.
Challenges
The following challenges could affect MARLIN’s technical success or end users’ adoption of the MARLIN system:
- Availability of cellular 5G terrestrial network coverage in coastal regions
- Complications integrating the MARLN sub-assembly with legacy Insight360 hardware
- Electronic component availability
- Ingress protection failing to achieve the necessary level of protection for marine environments
- Incompatibility with existing legal constraints on data management and/or on-vessel hardware installation
- Legislation does not mandate electronic monitoring of fishing vessels.
System Architecture
MARLIN’s on-vessel hardware is a sub-assembly to the underlying architecture of Arribada’s current Insight360 monitoring system, which autonomously records video and audio data. The MARLIN sub-assembly adds a range of cellular 5G modems and satellite Machine-to-Machine (M2M) transmitters and develops the software subsystems to drive and manage data transfer, exploring intelligent switching and optimisation of our hybrid comms solution.
The current design of the on-vessel hardware includes a waterproof IP68 enclosure, power regulation, Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), USB3, HDMI, mPCIe storage, hybrid cellular 5G and satellite M2M connectivity, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), a 4 channel directional microphone for audio capture, IP CCTV cameras and an LCD diagnostic screen.
Plan
The MARLIN project spans ESA’s Definition and Technology Phases with four milestones.
Definition Phase
Purpose: Gather user requirements, define the system architecture, investigate compliance constraints, and create a product business model.
- Milestone 1: Systems Requirements Review
Technology Phase
Purpose: Build and perform on-vessel tests of the MARLIN prototype hardware, build and test the dashboard software, and assess user experiences.
- Milestone 2: Mid-term Review
- Milestone 3: Preliminary Design Review
- Milestone 4: Critical Design Review
Current Status
The MARLIN project began on December 2, 2024. The following covers work in February 2025.
Work in progress:
- Interviewing stakeholders to understand what MARLIN will require to be successful for different end-user groups
- Analysing the responses from stakeholder interviews
- Creating a business plan centred on conducting market research, identifying key trends, estimating market size, and analysing competitors
- Created an initial MARLIN hardware block diagram
- Began testing software platforms for MARLIN
Next activities:
- We will continue to do all of the above activities for the next two months
Companies
