METIS updated data-acquistion system boosts digital shipping

Maritime data analytics company METIS Cyberspace Technology has introduced an upgraded version of its automated data-acquisition system, Ship Connect.

The system launch is a part of the company’s efforts to enhance data transfer and monitoring while also enabling the development of ship performance analytics based on standard protocols.

As described, the upgraded Ship Connect enables the processing and visualisation of real-time and historical data both onboard and ashore using a robust, flexible and unified data-transmission framework.

The developer added that readings are transferred from vessel equipment to the METIS cloud platform in a second or less, making them immediately available for analysis.

The system’s new framework is also scalable to accommodate the installation of millions of IoT devices with the MQTT support, the new standard messaging protocol for the IoT, and Google’s Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) language and platform-neutral mechanism for serialising structured data.

“With the latest generation of Ship Connect, we have set the standard for the interoperability which will shape shipping’s digital future. The system is lightweight, efficient and compatible with all data sources, requiring minimal resources and optimising network bandwidth”, said Serafeim Katsikas, CTO at METIS Cyberspace Technology.

Bidirectional communication between device and cloud streamlines support troubleshooting and updates while security is ensured through message encryption and user-authentication protocols, the Greek company explained.

The METIS cloud platform is said to measure 6.3 billion performance data points per month on almost 270 ships.