Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) announced the satellite-mounted detector, composed of an Earth-observation camera and an AI-equipped data processor, called AIRIS (or Artificial Intelligence Retraining In Space).
According to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the deployment of AIRIS marks an advancement in maritime monitoring, enhancing the ability to track elusive vessels and mitigate illegal activities on the high seas.
Mitsubishi describes that when the camera scans the Earth’s surface, rather than automatically sending all that data back for processing, AIRIS deploys its AI to detect target objects, such as dark ships, and selects and transmits only data from the areas where those objects are located.
Furthermore, it can also be updated while in orbit, as AIRIS is capable of receiving a ‘retrained’ AI model from the ground to update and fine-tune its own onboard AI according to MHI.
AIRIS is selected as one of demonstration themes of Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program conducted by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It is due to be launched in FY2025 onboard JAXA’s demonstration satellite RAISE-4.
MHI claims that its initial usage of the technology will be in the field of economic security, tracking down ships on the world’s oceans but MHI intends that the detection capability will be expanded in the future to include other objects, such as aircraft or vehicles.
