PIXEL

Ports are a great example of heterogeneous information hubs. Multiple stakeholders operate inside and outside them with different motivations and businesses. Although document and data interchange is already in place through Port Community Systems (PCS), the interchange is limited to official documentation and services of the Port Authority, such as custom declarations, import/export of cargo, and other formal documents. However, an effective integration of operational data is far from optimal in most ports, and especially so in medium or small ports, where budget is limited and IT services usually is outsourced. In contrast, the available operational data (resources tracking, container status, vessel operations, surface or berth available, air/water quality measurements…) is constantly increasing and technology is getting inexpensive and widely available. However, the application of such systems is still single-entity centric, since the information is not shared, keeping the real potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 hidden. The same holds for geographic areas surrounding ports, where Smart Cities integrate various data systems and provide valuable services to citizens and authorities.

The mission of PIXEL is to enable a multilateral collaboration, multimodal transport agents and cities to allow an optimal use of internal and external resources, sustainable economic growth and environmental impact mitigation in all ports, regardless their size or volume of operations. Thus, PIXEL aims at bringing the Port of the Future paradigm to the complete spectrum of ports, with special focus in the small and medium sized. To do this, PIXEL will leverage an IoT based communication infrastructure to voluntarily exchange data among ports and stakeholders ensuring a measurable benefit in this process. The main outcome of this technology will be an efficient use of resources in ports, as well as the sustainable development and growth of ports and surrounding cities/regions. PIXEL is a use case driven action that focuses on the needs of the stakeholders in order to improve their performance by means of specific technology enablers and improved environmental and operational procedures.