9-11 July 2014, NATO STO CMRE, La Spezia, Italy

Overview

The environment conditions the planning and conduct of operations in the maritime domain, and several factors and time scales must be considered as a consequence:

• Meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) factors, for example, sea state. These mainly change and condition operations in the short- and medium-term.
• Resource factors, for example, the (often limited) number of available assets in operations. These will condition operations in the short-, medium- and long-term.
• Socio/economic/political factors, for example, the traffic of vessels through disputed or contentious waters. These factors are typically long-term and drive the inital planning of operations but the time scale may not be predictable.

The NATO STO CMRE is hosting the DeSRAAP workshop to study these factors and their impact in operations, including civilian and military, and on infrastructures (in ports or at sea/ocean).

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 shortfalls in operational planning aids to assist decision makers. Researchers and industry will be exposed to some of the very real challenges faced in operational planning. Military personnel will learn about and shape the development of techniques and systems being developed to assist with decision-making.

More specific objectives of the DeSRAAP workshop are as follow:

• Risk Assessment. Participants will present the different risks they typically face in operations in the maritime domain (in ports, on platforms, for moving assets, in deep or shallow waters, etcetera). Participants will present tools and techniques available for assessing these risks. Ideas for advancements in risk assessment tools are expected to be generated from the workshop.
• Environmental Impact in Civilian and Military Assets (ports, infrastructures, vessels, etc.). Participants will present the potential impact of the environment on the assets they manage, and how they deal with this risk (prediction, generation of alarms, etc.).
• Decision Support. Evaluating the impact the environment can  have on assets is essential for making well-informed decisions. In addition, an assessment of risks and their portrayal is essential in the decision-making process. Participants will present decision support tools and techniques applied in the maritime domain. Decision support systems will be discussed to identify shortcomings and solutions.
• Asset Planning. Since the number of assets is usually limited in maritime operations, having asset-planning tools become essential to ensure their optimal use in the decision-making process. Participants will present tools and techniques on this topic.

Outcomes

The DeSRAAP 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 consortiums for future research projects, such as for EU H2020 and ONR 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 workshop. Participants are expected to give a presentation regarding one of the stated objectives of the workshop, although this is not mandatory.

Attendance is limited to the nationals of the 28 member countries of NATO. The meeting will be held at NATO UNCLASSIFIED security level.

The number of participants is limited to 50. Registration deadline is July 2nd, 2014.