Underwater Intrusion detection
Underwater intrusion detection for critical infrastructure
Surveillance of a coastal or offshore site almost always stops at the surface. Below the waterline remain the most difficult access points to control and the most commonly used in case of intrusion: divers, propulsion vehicles, underwater drones. WAILS addresses the underwater intrusion detection challenge by bringing together three complementary technologies—underwater sonar, hydrophones, and cameras—managed by a single platform that generates automatic real-time alerts. The result is a detection barrier that covers the entire water column around the infrastructure to be protected.
Underwater sonar: remote detection
Sonar is the first line of the system. It identifies approaching targets well before they reach the structure, providing position, distance, and direction of movement even in zero visibility conditions, at night, or in turbid water. Coverage can be extended to specific sectors, covering the exposed sides of a platform, wharf, or terminal. Each detected track is sent to the platform and made available to other sensors for confirmation.
Hydrophones: listening to the acoustic signature
Acoustic listening intercepts what sonar may struggle to classify. Hydrophones record propeller noise, breathing, mechanical equipment, and other sounds attributable to human activity in the water, covering wide areas with limited bandwidth consumption. They are also useful in acoustically complex environments such as ports, where surface traffic saturates other forms of detection, and maintain active surveillance when conditions prevent any type of imaging.
Cameras: visual verification of the alarm
An alarm without visual confirmation forces blind intervention. WAILS underwater cameras provide the image of the target the moment it enters effective range, making it possible to distinguish a real intrusion from a school of fish, debris, or a passing vessel. Verification drastically reduces false alarms and simultaneously provides documentation of the event, exportable as certified content for security reports, incident reports, or audits.
Artificial intelligence and automatic alerts
Data from the three sensors converge on the same platform, where artificial intelligence correlates the information and evaluates the consistency of events: a sonar track confirmed by an acoustic signature and video evidence carries different weight than an isolated signal. Alerts are customizable by zone, time, and criticality level, and are forwarded in real time via push notifications, email, and SMS to security personnel, with complete event recording already available for review.
Applications and integration with existing systems
The system is designed for offshore platforms and infrastructure, energy terminals, port areas, underwater construction sites, pipelines, submarine cables, dams, and water intakes of industrial facilities. The modular architecture allows starting with a minimal configuration and adding sensors over time, integrating underwater detection into the control room and security systems already operational on site. Contact us for an assessment of the area to be protected and the perimeter to be covered.
Contact Us
WAILS SRL
Via Solferino e San Martino, 14 | 46100 | Mantua (Italy)
Tel. +393409828077 / +393404115627
Email: info@wails.it