Starboard platform

Xerra Earth Observation Institute is a regional research institute offering science-based products and services. Xerra uncovers problems that are hard to solve and best tackled with Earth Observation and remote sensing technologies. Headquartered in Alexandra, its aim is to unlock the potential of Earth Observation data to benefit all, especially Aotearoa New Zealand.

Xerra launched Starboard Maritime Intelligence in May 2021. The cloud-based platform provides teams with comprehensive views of maritime activity and powerful tools for analysis. Starboard combines multiple layers of satellite data, scientific models, machine learning (ML) models and other information to enable nations to effectively analyse, monitor and protect their maritime domain in an increasingly complex maritime security environment.

This 2-year fixed term contract with MBIE will support Xerra’s transition to a financially self-sustaining, independent organisation. The $6.999M from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2023 will fund the pursuit to commercialise Starboard via the establishment of a subsidiary company and the continuous development of the product’s technical capability. Business development activities will include entering international markets, expanding the total addressable market and attracting external investors.

The programme of work is a combination of technology development, advanced feature development and science-based analytics. Xerra will continue its global market and user research work, ensuring its efforts remain market-led to inform brand positioning, support international sales and influence its roadmap.

As part of its efforts to improve performance, Xerra will refine its automated, end-to-end pipeline for ingesting satellite data and detecting vessels. It will match this data with coincident automatic identification system (AIS) data to determine if a detected vessel is a non-reporting dark vessel. Xerra will also revise its current framework for rendering data from multiple sources and vendors to better organise, monitor, document and recover in the event of a disaster.

New ML algorithms will help with rapid identification of events, as well as vessels and linkages that previously went undetected. Xerra will add more advanced features including combining complex algorithms that detect noteworthy vessel events. Users will be able to set custom alerts and analyse specific behaviours within customer-defined areas. ML models will be used to identify ‘anomalous-behaviour’ events, similar to existing ‘encounters’, ‘fishing’, and other events. Users will be able to filter out large numbers of vessels acting normally and focus on the small number of vessels performing unexpected manoeuvres.

A well-known but poorly understood facet of maritime domain awareness (MDA) is the relationships vessels have with other vessels at sea, with ports of call, and with onshore networks of owners and operators. Xerra will work to better understand how to flag additional activities authorities need to be aware of, including the smuggling of illicit goods, human rights abuses, human trafficking and other criminal offences at sea.

Understanding vessel movements through time helps researchers and policy analysts make better informed decisions. Examples include identifying best locations to establish marine reserves, or calling attention to ports of high regulatory interest. Starboard’s pre-processed vessel movement and port visit histories, coupled with a powerful and intuitive query interface, can turn an expensive, month-long exercise into a query that takes minutes. Starboard will facilitate better decision-making about how to protect our marine environment by enabling policy and maritime analysts to answer complex questions themselves, dramatically improving workflow efficiency and awareness of maritime activity.

Starboard currently implements rules for assessing specific biosecurity threats and automatically flags vessels that have visited risk-prone ports prior to their arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand. As Xerra learns more about issues like biofouling and other challenges its customers face, e.g. climate change impacts on fish species migration and species distribution, Xerra will develop methods to help analyse large and complicated data sets. These methods may include machine learning, multivariate statistical models and expert elicitation to identify vessel traffic coupled with biosecurity inspection data.

While executing its technology development programme, Xerra will continue to expand its sales and external investment strategies. This includes expanding its New Zealand customer base and entering international markets with a sales presence in nations which have large maritime borders. Xerra will seek out appropriate sales channels to enter the Australian, Pacific Ocean and African markets. These are places where enhanced MDA can benefit government agencies, regional organisations and non-governmental organisations looking to protect marine environments. Xerra will position itself for future venture capital by making its governance and cost structure appealing to outside investors. In the contract’s second year, Xerra will begin its capital raise efforts.

The Earth Observation market is evolving and subject to unanticipated shifts in the marketplace and government policy. It is imperative Xerra continue to probe the market and customer demand for science-derived products and services. As the world grapples with climate change, Xerra will look for ways in which its research can contribute to becoming better guardians of our land, soil and water.  

Starboard^® Maritime Intelligence is subscription-based software that provides teams with a comprehensive view of maritime activity and powerful tools for analysis.

Monitor your national waters and help protect the world’s oceans(external link) – Starboard Maritime Intelligence

By combining global automatic identification system (AIS) data, multiple layers of satellite data, scientific models, and other information or intelligence, Starboard enables teams to effectively analyse and investigate vessels and areas — all on a secure and intuitive platform. It helps nations tackle complex maritime challenges, ranging from risk assessing arriving vessels to detecting illegal fishing and uncovering non-reporting dark vessels.

Starboard is the flagship product of Xerra Earth Observation Institute, a remote sensing and data analytics company established under the Regional Research Institute initiative.

The Starboard platform was launched in April 2021 and has a growing customer base using both subscription and one-off operation services.

Our approach to research and development is to build quickly, gather customer feedback early, and iterate continuously on features that uniquely solve customer problems. Starboard has an intense focus on its customers — in particular the analysts and operational teams working to protect the world's oceans and their national waters – and this has resulted in a software platform that customers value and use every day.

In the world of fisheries management, border security, and biosecurity, with our primary customers being government and intergovernmental organisations, this is often a new and unique experience for users.

Science excellence

Starboard brings together researchers, engineers, and business experts in-house under a common purpose, in line with the Te Ara Paerangi - Future Pathways’ ambition to connect the research, science and innovation ecosystem.

There is growing international recognition of the science and innovation expertise of our team, particularly within the maritime domain awareness community. This is evidenced through increasing invitations to international conferences and symposia as keynote speakers and panellists. Over the past year, this has included:

• INFOFISH World Tuna Trade Conference(external link), Bangkok – Starboard Maritime Intelligence
• Economist Impact 2nd World Ocean Summit Asia-Pacific(external link) (WOSAP), Singapore – Starboard Maritime Intelligence
• Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5)(external link), Vancouver – IMPAC5

This financial year also saw the publication of two white papers:

• Satellite dark vessel detection for maritime domain awareness. INFOFISH International Issue 6/2022, November/December 2022. 
• The importance of maritime domain awareness in fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing [PDF 7.1MB](external link) – Pacific Community Fisheries Newsletter (SPC), December 2022

This is in addition to the publication of four peer reviewed articles – in areas other than maritime domain awareness – in SJR Q1 journals. 

Science impact

The commercialisation of research through our software as a service (SaaS) offering provides the greatest avenue to both science impact and commercial sustainability for Starboard.

We have continued to focus on the ongoing development of new product features within Starboard, to meet customer demand. A summary of released features, and plans for future development, is available on the Starboard website:

Starboard software roadmap(external link) – Starboard Maritime Intelligence

We are starting to see more and more stories of the direct benefit of Starboard, with continued potential for societal, environmental and economic impact. To help demonstrate this, we have published five impact case studies and articles over the past year:

This news article is a profound example of the impact of Starboard, where Thai authorities prohibited the landing of more than $7 million USD worth of tuna from a South Korean fish carrier.

• Unusual ship tracks lead to international collaboration(external link) – Starboard Maritime Intelligence

This case study looks at the identification of vessels with heightened biosecurity risks, such as foot-and-mouth disease, and how this can support the planning and processes for border teams.

• Supporting biosecurity activity at the maritime border through complex queries and analysis of vessel histories(external link) – Starboard Maritime Intelligence

This article was first published in INFOFISH, and reports insights from the Starboard science team from their dark vessel detection operations using optical, radio frequency and synthetic aperture radar satellite sensors.

• Satellite dark vessel detection for maritime domain awareness(external link) – Starboard Maritime Intelligence

This article considers the use of Starboard to identify and assess vessel movements that deviate from ‘normal’ patterns, leading to the discovery of vessels that might be noteworthy and need further investigation.

• Anomalous movements on a global scale(external link) – Starboard Maritime Intelligence

This article is an excerpt from 'The importance of maritime domain awareness in fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing' first published in the December 2022 SPC Newsletter, as noted above under Science Excellence.

• The journey of IUU risk indicators from red flags to real-time response(external link) – Starboard Maritime Intelligence

Capability development (investing in people)

We are continuing to operate successfully as a distributed workforce with team members spread around New Zealand. This has not only allowed us to support people to live and work in regional Aotearoa, if that is where they choose to be, but it has allowed us to build an exceptional team with unique capability, not limited by geographical location.

This past summer, we were pleased to support the broader science and technology ecosystem of New Zealand by once again providing an internship programme. Working with the Summer of Tech and with funding support from Callaghan Innovation, we welcomed two software engineering students plus one data science student into our team.

Summer of Tech website(external link)

In a new initiative, Starboard has recently started delivering webinars, to current and potential customers. These online events provide information about new research, developments in the Starboard platform and effective analysis techniques. More information, including recordings of previous webinars, is available on the Starboard website:

Webinars(external link) – Starboard Maritime Intelligence

Vision Mātauranga

As key stakeholders in environmental sustainability, and custodians of important indigenous knowledge, we recognise that Māori can both benefit from, and partner in, our endeavours to build a better Aotearoa New Zealand.

We have continued to invest time into the development of relationships with mana whenua and Māori businesses, exploring research collaborations and the potential of internships, and we still believe there is good, important work to be done. We will continue to seek and pursue opportunities, particularly in the maritime domain awareness space.

Governance

In April of this year, we celebrated a significant milestone — the establishment of Starboard Maritime Intelligence Ltd. The creation of this new entity has been a key part of our strategy moving forward. It has enabled the spin out of our unique IP, and this has been a critical step in the commercialisation of the Starboard product, particularly as we look to secure external investment.

The new Starboard entity is governed by a new Board of Directors. Its inaugural Board is composed of two Directors who have come over from Xerra, ensuring a continuity of strategy and direction. It is anticipated that we will introduce 1-2 new Directors over the coming year, as we push into an increasingly global market.

Financial sustainability

Starboard’s business model is focused on achieving sustainable levels of monthly recurring revenue, as a high-growth SaaS business. We have intentionally escalated our sales and marketing activity over the past year, with increased presence at international conferences and in-country meetings with current and potential customers.

We have also commenced discussions with potential investors, with the intent of introducing external investment into Starboard. This has been made possible through the establishment of Starboard Maritime Intelligence Ltd as its own entity.  This planned investment is not only to provide working capital while we grow our revenue streams but, more importantly, to accelerate Starboard’s growth and development well into the future.

We are excited about what the next 12 months will bring for Starboard – for our team, for our customers and our oceans.

Starboard^® Maritime Intelligence (Starboard(external link)) is subscription-based software that provides teams with a comprehensive view of maritime activity and powerful tools for analysis. The Starboard platform helps government agencies and environmentally-focused organisations monitor and protect their maritime domain by turning large and complex datasets, from Earth observation (EO) and other sources, into intuitive and insightful tools for analysts. It helps nations tackle complex maritime challenges, ranging from risk assessing arriving vessels to detecting illegal fishing and uncovering non-reporting dark vessels.

Starboard is the flagship product of Xerra Earth Observation Institute, a remote sensing and data analytics company offering science-based products and services that help improve productivity and speed the pace of innovation in government and industry.

The Starboard platform was launched in April 2021 and has a growing customer base using both subscription and one-off operation services. Customers range from government agencies through to individual oceans researchers and human rights and environmental advocates.

What makes Starboard unique is the direct relationship between our research team and the end-users, building new tools based on leading-edge research conducted by our in-house science team and research collaborators. Our approach to research and development is to build quickly, gather customer feedback early, and iterate continuously on features that uniquely solve customer problems. This approach led to the growth of Starboard since launch, and its ongoing impact since that time.

Our focus over the past financial year has been on accelerating the development of core Starboard functionality and new product features*.

Starboard started in 2020 by delivering advanced vessel monitoring and analysis in the Tasman Sea for New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Since then we have rapidly grown our capabilities and are now trusted providers to MPI, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), New Zealand Customs Service, the Environmental Justice Foundation, and others under the software as a service model.

As a result of the work done over the past two years, Starboard is now delivering a marked improvement in analysts’ ability to monitor oceans for illegal fishing activity, marine reserve incursions, biosecurity threats and anomalous behaviours.

We continue to deliver scientific excellence and science impact through the Starboard platform, while making strides towards financial sustainability.

*A summary of released features, and plans for future development, is available on the Starboard website: https://starboard.nz/software/roadmap/(external link)

Science excellence

Starboard has prioritised a “little r, big D” approach to our research programme, which has enabled us to accelerate the delivery of new research through connected, iterative, and interactive prototyping with end-users, while our multidisciplinary team has enabled Starboard to generate new insights at a scale that would be challenging in a more traditional research environment.

Although the dissemination of this work does not lend itself to traditional publication, the work is no less innovative. Starboard brings together researchers, engineers, and business experts in-house under a common purpose, in line with Te Ara Paerangi - Future Pathways’ ambition to connect the research, science and innovation ecosystem. 

At Xerra, researchers work closely with Starboard product designers and end-users to understand the specific needs customers are facing — ensuring the science is relevant and commercially valuable. Researchers work with back-end engineers to efficiently access and analyse an unprecedented volume of real-time, global data (30 million messages per day) — enabling cutting-edge science at scale. Our research team also works with front-end developers to publish novel algorithm prototypes in an interactive and intuitive environment, enabling rapid feedback. Finally they work with marketing and sales personnel to get new research into the hands of engaged users.

An example of this is our biosecurity work. We heard from target vessel evaluators at MPI that prioritising arriving vessels inspections for gypsy moth or Brown marmorated stink bug is a very manual and time-consuming process, based on comparing self-reported port calls schedules with risk areas and periods in the Craft Risk Management Standard. Starboard currently holds a three-year repository of vessel transponder data — over 25 billion ship positions — and automatically identifies port visits in real time. We worked collaboratively to pair MPI analysts’ deep understanding of this topic with our expertise in data analysis, remote sensing, and software design to create a model that automatically flags arriving vessels for hitchhiker pest risk. This earned Xerra the Supreme Winner, GIA Industry Award and Mondiale VGL Innovation Award for the 2021 New Zealand Biosecurity Awards.

We have seen the success of this approach in the market, securing both contestable funding and commercial revenue.

Science impact

Commercialisation of research through software as a service (SaaS) provides the greatest avenue to both science impact and commercial sustainability for Xerra and Starboard. It allows us to escape the fundamental limits of traditional research consultancy where growth is limited by staff headcount.

The research that underpins Starboard is already making societal impact through improving the delivery of public service and enabling a better understanding of and resilience to maritime risk. It also continues to make environmental impacts, providing new insights to protect subantarctic islands and prevent illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU). In each of these areas, our connected, adaptable, and resilient team has enabled us to deliver impactful science at scale.

We published five impact case studies to showcase new product features and test market fit.

1. Starboard: network analysis(external link) explores experimental work to elucidate vessels with hidden links to known offenders through network analysis of offshore encounters. An interactive visualisation allows end-users to understand and evaluate complex research in an intuitive way.
2. Starboard for biosecurity(external link) looks at how nations can reduce the risk of invasive species entering via maritime borders.(external link)
3. Starboard for fisheries monitoring(external link) looks at turning data into insights for effective fisheries monitoring.
4. Starboard: satellite surveillance(external link) looks at how to plan, task and analyse satellite data for greater situational awareness. (external link)
5. Starboard: overview(external link) summarises how we marry advanced data science and multiple information sources with intuitive web-based software to deliver a secure common operating picture for the maritime domain.

In addition, we've published over 35 articles on our help website(external link) to explain specific use cases and help new users understand and apply product features to their domain.

Over 50 news and media pieces have also highlighted Starboard’s growing impact in the sector both within New Zealand and internationally.

Capability development (investing in people)

Over the past year we have been fortunate to retain our team of six scientists, as well as add two new machine learning roles. We now have eight scientists in-house, made up of experts in remote sensing, data science, and machine learning. 

Xerra’s mandate to deliver industry-led R&D has enabled us to build a diverse team for Starboard spanning the product development cycle from ideation through to market release and beyond. Our in-house scientists are supported by two product designers, a three-person sales and marketing team, and a growing team of eleven software engineers. This cross-functional team, with a proven track record, provides us with the means to both conduct relevant research as well as commercialise that research in house, and efficiently deliver the effective solutions in a fast changing world.

To date, our business and engineering teams have been able to grow with the needs of the organisation, welcoming highly skilled staff with leadership experience in technology start-ups, product designers, engineers, and sales and marketing staff. These roles are all critical to our ability to deliver value through Starboard.

Governance

The strategic governance and oversight of the Starboard product is provided through the Xerra Board of Directors. This includes the appointment of Trent Fulcher as the new Chief Executive in July 2022. Trent joins the team with leadership experience in the realms of international market development, turning complex technology into marketable products, and growing high performing teams — which will be highly valuable to the growth of Starboard.

Financial sustainability

While still a relatively new product, Starboard’s commercial sales through subscription customers, one-off digital operations, and consultancy sales are steadily increasing.

It is Starboard’s mission to create the most powerful maritime domain awareness and analysis platform in the world. This mission, and validation of the market potential through early sales, continues to shape the direction of our applied research, development, and commercial activity going forward.