DanubeGuard

DanubeGuard

A simple early-warning map that uses Copernicus satellite images and Galileo to help border police spot unusual boats along the Danube border.

IDEA

The Problem

Smugglers and traffickers often cross borders in places where there are few police patrols: remote river banks, the Danube Delta, islands and coastal waters. Small boats can move at night or when the weather is bad. The border police cannot watch everywhere at the same time, so they need help to know where to look first.

The Solution

DanubeGuard is a simple early-warning map for border police. It uses free European satellite data to spot boats near the border that look unusual and shows them as alerts on a map. The police can then decide where to send a patrol.

How it works

1. Satellites see the boats. The Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite uses radar, which works at night and through clouds, so boats on the water are visible in its images.

2. We check which boats are "known". Most legal boats send their position automatically through a system called AIS (similar to a GPS tracker for ships). If a boat appears in the satellite image but does not send its position, we mark it as a "dark vessel" that may need checking.

3. We show it on a map. The alerts appear on a simple map, together with the positions of police patrols, which use Galileo – Europe's own satellite navigation system. This way, the police can see at a glance which activity is theirs and which is unknown.

EU Space Technologies

- Copernicus – the EU's Earth observation programme. We use its free satellite images (radar images from Sentinel-1 and normal photos from Sentinel-2), available in the Copernicus Browser. - Galileo – the EU's satellite navigation system, the European alternative to GPS, used to show the exact position of police patrols.

PILOT AREA: THE DANUBE

We start with the Danube Delta and the Romanian section of the Danube – part of the EU's external border with Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia, with many wetland areas that are hard to patrol. Later, the same idea can be used on other rivers and coastlines in Europe. Finding illegal boats faster also helps protect the river environment.

WHO WOULD USE IT

Border police and customs. The map helps them use their patrols better: they go where the alerts are, instead of searching everywhere.

RESPECTING PEOPLE'S PRIVACY

- We do not follow or identify people – we only look for boats.

- Small fishing boats do not always have AIS, so an alert is only a hint to check, not proof of a crime.

- Every alert is checked by a police officer: the system helps, but people decide.

WHAT WE WILL SHOW AT THE HACKATHON

- A small area of the Danube Delta.

- Satellite images from the Copernicus Browser in which we find boats.

- A comparison with AIS ship data, to see which boats are "dark".

- A simple map with the alerts.

ABOUT US

We are first-year engineering students. We joined the CASSINI Hackathon to learn how European space data can help solve real problems, and DanubeGuard is our first step.

The EU Water Space

TEAM

Vlad Bîrsa, Project Manager & Data Analyst.

Mechanical Engineering student at the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, with experience in coordinating civic projects. Organizes the team's work and the data analysis.

[Name] – Developer

Builds the map and works with the satellite data.

[Name] – Designer & GIS Specialist

Maps, visual design and user interface.