Overview

The environment is a major constraint for the planning and the conduct of operations in the maritime domain through:

• Meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) factors evolving on short and medium time/range scales, for example, sea state and underwater sound propagation.
• Resource factors impacting operations at all times, for example, the (often limited) number of available assets, sensors and weapons capable to operate under that environment.
• Socio/economical/political factors driving the initial planning of operations, for example, amount of vessel traffic or fishing operations through the areas of interest.

The NATO STO CMRE is hosting the DeSRAAP 2015 workshop to discuss these factors and their impact on civilian and military operations and infrastructures, for example, in ports (shallow waters) or at sea/ocean (deep waters). These impacts are to be described through a risk analysis and included in the decision process along with the other relevant criteria for mission optimization.

Military personnel, researchers and industry are welcome to participate in the DeSRAAP workshop.

Objectives

The overarching objective is to bring together military personnel and research communities to understand and address risk related shortfalls in operational planning aids to assist decision makers. Researchers and industry will be exposed to some of the real challenges faced in operation planning. Military personnel will learn about and have an opportunity to influence the development of techniques and systems being developed to assist decision-making.

More specific objectives of the DeSRAAP 2015 workshop are as follow:

• Risk Characterization and Assessment. To characterize risks typically faced in maritime operations (in ports, on platforms, for moving assets, in deep or shallow waters, etc.) and tools and techniques available for assessing these risks. To generate ideas for advancements in risk assessment tools.
• Environmental Impact on Civilian and Military Assets and Infrastructures (vessels, ports, etc.). To explore the potential impact of environmental conditions on assets and infrastructures, mitigating strategies (e.g. forecast/prediction) and how to handle events (e.g. generation of alarms).
• Decision Support. To support well-informed decision-making through the portrayal of integrated risk and environmental assessments and deployment of decision support systems. To identify shortcomings of decision support systems and ways ahead.
• Asset Planning. To present methods and tools to ensure optimal use of limited resources (assets) in the decision-making process.

Outcomes

The DeSRAAP 2015 workshop will be a forum for discussion about environmental impact, risk assessment, decision support and asset planning from both military and civilian points of view. CMRE expects to shape its program of work in response to the priorities identified, to create Joint Research Projects with participants, and to develop consortia for future research projects, for example, EU H2020, national programs project calls, and for multi-national NATO projects.

Additional information

Participants from the military, government, research, academia and industry communities are welcome to the DeSRAAP 2015 workshop. Participants are expected to give a presentation regarding one of the stated objectives of the workshop, although this is not mandatory to participate.

Attendance is limited to the nationals of the 28 member countries of NATO, as well as Australia, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, New Zealand and Sweden. The meeting will be held at NATO UNCLASSIFIED security level.

The number of participants is limited to 50. Registration deadline is September 9th, 2015.