Monitoring vessel traffic on a global scale is a complex and challenging task. The large number of moving vessels and the complexity of monitoring their position and forecasting their route in real-time require novel, advanced and highly scalable big-data mechanisms. In this work a digital twin for constant maritime situational awareness on a global scale is presented. The described multi-layered system is able to visualize maritime traffic in real-time, based on data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), while also providing forecasts of future movement based on machine learning and deep learning techniques. The system is validated using real streaming AIS data from around the globe to demonstrate its performance, scalability and parallelization efficiency.

Machine learning and especially deep learning are appropriate for solving multiple problems in various domains. Training such models though, demands significant processing power and requires large data-sets. Federated learning is an approach that merely solves these problems, as multiple users constitute a distributed network and each one of them trains a model locally with his data. This network can cumulatively sum up significant processing power to conduct training efficiently, while it is easier to preserve privacy, as data does not leave its owner. Nevertheless, it has been proven that federated learning also faces privacy and integrity issues. In this paper a general enhanced federated learning framework is presented. Users may provide data or the required processing power or participate just in order to train their models. Homomorphic encryption algorithms are employed to enable model training on encrypted data. Blockchain technology is used as smart contracts coordinate the work-flow and the commitments made between all participating nodes, while at the same time, tokens exchanges between nodes provide the required incentives for users to participate in the scheme and to act legitimately. © 2019 by SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications, Lda.