Project: Professional intelligent munitions assessment using 3D reconstructions and Bayesian Neural Networks

Acronym	ProBaNNt (Reference Number: MarTERA-2020_16)
Duration	01/10/2021 - 30/09/2024
Project Topic	The "Blue Growth" strategy of the European Union indicates great potential for an expansion of offshore economic development. The presence of large amounts of submerged munitions (1.6 million tons are expected in German waters alone) constitutes a major obstacle for the sustainable economic use of the European seas. Due to increasing offshore activities the frequency of munitions encounters is bound to increase. Accordingly, having reliable, efficient and objective tools for decision-making during munitions clearance operations available, will become more important. The tools that are developed during ProBaNNt address the most critical point in the value chain of munitions clearance: After the detection of munitions and before the clearance operation itself. The ProBaNNt project aims at improving these decision-making capabilities on various levels and generating a comprehensive tool to support offshore explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) campaigns. ProBaNNt integrates sustainable convergence, use and analysis of existing EOD data with new data acquisition techniques, such as 3D photogrammetry and ad-hoc assessment of sediment properties. All of this information will be integrated into an EOD decision-making software that uses Bayesian Neural Networks to propose the most viable clearance option for a given munitions item at a given location. Data will be gathered both by reviewing past EOD campaigns of project partners and other data suppliers, by accompanying EOD campaigns that may potentially take place during ProBaNNt’s runtime and by executing specific field campaigns that project partners will conduct in known munitions dumpsites. These data will be merged into an EOD database that serves as the major source of input for the EOD support tool. The viability of all developments will be validated though dialogue with EOD experts, to determine whether and how these tools improve decision-making capabilities and to adapt the project research according to industry needs.
Website	visit project website
Network	MarTERA
Call	MarTERA Call 2020

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel	Coordinator	Germany
2	SeaTerra GmbH	Partner	Germany
3	Instytut Oceanologii PAN	Partner	Poland
4	Ośrodek Badwaczo Rozwojowy Centrum Techniki Morskiej S.A.	Partner	Poland