MARTE is a national research infrastructure that supports innovation and scientific research in the fields of marine technologies and the marine environment. The test area enables research and development related to environmental monitoring, vessel and floating platform tracking, and the development of marine technologies.

In addition to the Marine Technology Competence Centre at Kuressaare College, the infrastructure development involves TalTech’s Department of Marine Systems, Department of Cybernetics, Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and the Estonian Maritime Academy.

During the project period 2025-2029, two interoperable marine monitoring systems will be developed. The offshore and coastal monitoring system will collect data on wave dynamics, currents, water properties and sediment transport. The vessel-based system will focus on monitoring vessel performance and situational awareness, providing real-time data on the surrounding marine environment and other vessels. This information is essential for safe and efficient navigation and operational decision-making in complex sea conditions.

“During the project, we are developing, implementing, and testing various technologies primarily for data collection and for evaluating the interoperability of technological systems. In the longer term, research and development focused on data acquisition will enable us to create new systems for operating vessels more efficiently, comfortably, and safely. A key aspect of these systems is that they are based on data collected directly from real marine environments,” said Professor Mihkel Kõrgesaar, one of the co-authors of the project.

“The project enables the development and testing of several new technological solutions. Among other things, a technical solution for collecting maritime situational awareness data will be integrated into a multifunctional work vessel currently under construction, which will be operated by the Estonian State Fleet. This will allow us to collect data at an essentially unlimited scale to develop and train modern perception and navigation systems, which will be essential in the near future for operating autonomous vessels or increasing the autonomy of manned vessels. In conjunction with the offshore monitoring systems developed within the project, we are creating a solution that makes it possible to correlate onboard measurements with surrounding environmental conditions in both space and time,” explained Professor Kristjan Tabri, also one of the project’s co-authors.

The systems will also be tested in cooperation with the Estonian State Fleet, whose new multifunctional vessels will be equipped with the necessary technology for environmental monitoring, navigation safety and oil spill response. Some of the equipment developed within the project will be directly integrated into these vessels.

Various sensors will be installed both at sea and on board vessels. The collected data will also be used for the development of computational models and simulation environments. The long-term objective is to establish a reliable, science-based framework for testing marine technologies and assessing their environmental impact under real conditions.

The project is funded by the Estonian Research Council under the programme “Supporting Infrastructure of National Importance 2025-2029”.