Inland Water
Transport Systems
The Inland Water Transport (IWT) is a mega project being pursued by the Government of India (GoI) to drive multiple sustainable economic growth goals in the long term. The multi-modal transport largely focused on waterways has varied new dimensions including the navigational safety, data analytics, communication, Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), sediment classification, disaster management and many more. The new project being one of its kind will require institutional capacity and capability building at a massive scale. Right from policy, technology & innovation and human resource development, merit attention and a comprehensive strategic way forward needs to be envisioned.
The AIS data is a critical input to facilitate navigational safety, collision avoidance, environmental impact assessment and data analytics across multiple applications including efficient operations, trend analysis and more. The AIS data analysis could provide vital inputs for enhanced policy structure and effective management of the entire project on multiple fronts. As per the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), all vessels over 300 Gross Tonnage (GT) are required to install the AIS onboard. So, even for the IWT vessels, the AIS needs to be made mandatory as per policy regulation and appropriate data analytics infrastructure and algorithm support needs to be established.
The data from AIS and other sources like environmental parameters, field sensors for multiple applications and more need to be analyzed. The data size is likely to grow exponentially and very complex application specific analysis will also be demanded by multiple stakeholders. Thus, futuristic signal processing and data analysis hardware and software infrastructure needs to be developed with commensurate R&D resources. High Performance Computing(HPC) hardware with real time capabilities is inescapable. Domain knowledge and application specific research problem definition with precise deliverables is required.
Mega projects like the IWT have far reaching impact on the surroundings. The term environment needs to be defined differently to include not just the ecology,but also the socio-economic factors. The entire social dynamics are likely to change and thus, there is need to understand the likely changes and bring policies to deal with such massive transformation. There is requirement to source real data from diverse agencies & formats, and make it available to the data analysis infrastructure. An optimum structure of data flow with adequate safeguards for data security needs to be built to be able to provide the ground realities, while embarking on such a massive initiative.
The IWT as a mega project with diverse dimensions needs to have an efficient and effective communication and IT infrastructure. The structure needs to be home grown with deep understanding of the ground realities. The entire system has to evolve on a well-structured scalable model. Technology and innovation has to be used in a calibrated manner to be able to manage the diversity of the users, operators, management entities and extended communities and stakeholders associated with the project. Public and private systems will have to be integrated and managed seamlessly. Effective mix of indigenous and imported technologies will have to be used to build the larger system.
- Institutional Capacity and Capability Building.
- Species specific vulnerability assessment with real-time correlation with the site specific acoustic habitat degradation.
- GAP analysis on all fronts from policy, technology & innovation and human resource development to propose the institutional capacity and capability building.
- Hand holding for establishing the academic collaboration and the R&D facility.
- Support for establishing the futuristic technology infrastructure.
- Knowledge partner for realization of the entire institutional structure.
- Institutional Capacity and Capability Building.
- Consultancy for formulation of the broad framework and implementation of the way forward.
- GAP analysis on all fronts from policy, technology & innovation and human resource development to propose the institutional capacity and capability building.
- Hand holding for establishing the academic collaboration and the R&D facility.
- Support for establishing the futuristic technology infrastructure.
- Knowledge partner for realization of the entire institutional structure.
The regional geopolitics and the prevailing security scenario mandates substantial attention to security measures. The non-state actors have been active and also being used as extension of the state policy by our adversaries in the region. Thus, we need to be vigilant and keep pace with these subversive elements and not allow them to cause any disruptions. Underwater threats like drone attacks and mines are a real threat with massive asymmetry against our conventional measures, and we need to prepare accordingly.
The Acoustic Habitat Degradation is a real cause of concern due to such a mega project with round the clock and high volume activities in our water bodies. The noise pollution needs to be monitored and assessed for its impact on the aquatic species, especially the river dolphins. Mitigation strategies are available and need to be adapted for the same. The disaster management is another aspect that merits urgent attention given such massive investments. Early warning systems and risk assessments are extremely critical systems that should be installed right at the initial stages.
The IWT project could integrate multiple other aspects of the blue economy like fishing, mining, oil & gas and others. The technology development, environmental impact assessment, human resource development and much more can be synergized with pooling of resources across these stakeholders. A comprehensive approach will optimize the resource utilization. Training infrastructure and R&D can be jointly developed to ensure deployment of the state-of-the-art tools and measures.
Science and technology will remain the driver for any safe, secure and sustainable growth initiative.The project of such dimension need to evolve continuously with state-of-the-art inputs from a well-informed R&D team. Multi-disciplinary R&D inputs on policy, technology & innovation and human resource development needs to be made available on continuous basis based on detailed data analysis from all sources. The changing ground realities need to be assessed and corresponding changes incorporated in the entire system at all levels.
The entire policy structure needs to be established right from Organizational Structure, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Human Resource Development Plan, R&D support, Infrastructure Development and much more. Meticulous documentation with an eye for details need to be undertaken considering local ground realities in mind with extensive R&D inputs from data analysis.
The entire infrastructure for operation, maintenance and deployment of new measures need to be planned with state-of-the-art tools not just for day to day functioning but also to monitor its efficacy in the long term. Data collection on all aspects of the entire operation including its impact on the overall environment around on multiple fronts like ecology, socio-economic dynamics, cultural aspects, demography and more need to be established for detailed analysis.
The institutional strengthening has to be done in a manner to address the immediate issues and the futuristic aspects. Academic collaboration to form a Centre of Excellence to support the science & technology and R&D requirements of such a mega project needs to be established. A appropriate knowledge partner to guide and support the management authorities in the initial stages to set-up the entire framework could be of relevance.
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