Innovation Projects

Digital Safe Fishing Vessel (DSFV)

The Digital Safe Fishing Vessel (DSFV) project was born out of an initiative by the Shipowners’ Cooperative of the Port of Vigo (ARVI) with the purpose of addressing a critical challenge in the maritime sector: the high accident rate in fishing fleets due to extreme environmental conditions, obsolete technologies, and the lack of real-time information.

The general objective of DSFV is to design and validate a comprehensive onboard digital safety system. This system aims to drastically reduce onboard accidents and facilitate operational decision-making in vessels of various sizes through resilient connectivity technologies, crew monitoring via wearables, pre-departure digital checklists, and predictive stability algorithms.

The industrial consortium is led by ARVI and includes the participation of specialized technological partners: Fish & Food Technology (FFT), Fivecomm, Marine Integrated Solutions (MAIN), and Optare Solutions.

Objetives of Optare Solutions

Within the project, the company Optare Solutions assumes a fundamental technological role focused on the research, integration, and validation of advanced connectivity and local processing architectures. Its specific and strategic objectives within DSFV are detailed below:

Advanced connectivity research: To investigate and validate connectivity technologies in maritime environments to reinforce its position as a provider of private 5G network solutions adapted to complex and hard-to-cover scenarios.
Naval radio channel analysis: To understand in detail the real behavior of the radio signal in naval environments, both in the interior and exterior areas of vessels, identifying how structural (metallic) and environmental factors affect signal propagation.
Coverage technology evaluation: To evaluate solutions for improving onboard coverage, such as MIMO antennas, DAS systems, RIS intelligent surfaces, and beamforming techniques, aiming to optimize service quality in dynamic scenarios.
Edge Computing implementation: To investigate the design and implementation of onboard edge computing architectures that allow local processing of critical data captured on board, ensuring the continuity of digital services even in situations of degraded or zero connectivity.
Hybrid network study: To analyze hybrid connectivity architectures that efficiently combine terrestrial private 5G networks with satellite communication links.
Commercial and technological evolution: To transfer all the knowledge generated in the project to expand its commercial catalog of private 5G solutions with specific capabilities for maritime industrial environments, while laying the technological foundations for future integrations into 6G ecosystems.

Expected Impact and Results

Through the execution of the consortium’s joint activities, the project expects to achieve significant milestones with a high socio-economic and environmental impact for the fishing sector:

An estimated 25% reduction in capsizings, sinkings, and serious accidents in fleets equipped with the DSFV system.
Generation of annual savings of up to 15 million euros in costs derived from accidents and structural damage in the Spanish fleet.
Continuous and persistent crew connectivity at sea, which not only optimizes safety but also improves emotional well-being and communication with land.
Reduction of CO₂ emissions through the optimization of maneuvers and reduction of environmental risk by preventing spills and sinkings.

_{The DSFV project designs and validates a comprehensive onboard digital system to reduce accidents and improve operational decisions on fishing vessels. Within this framework, Optare Solutions leads the research into resilient connectivity by designing a hybrid architecture that combines private 5G networks, satellite, and edge computing. Its main objective is to analyze the behavior of the radio channel in metallic naval environments and ensure the local processing of critical data when out of coverage. With this, it aims to optimize crew safety and expand its commercial catalog toward digital solutions for extreme maritime environments. Within the DFSV project, a grant of €308,427.00 has been awarded to Optare Solutions for its execution associated with file EXP – 00177174 / ITC-20251240 under the call for the granting of the INNTERCONECTA STEP 2025 call.}