Systematic representation of sensor technology 
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——— Average human eye ----+ CMOSSensor ----—-—-- SWR. -- = MWIR = — = LWIR 
Figure 1: Systematic representation of sensor technology used in maritime night vision equipment 
Only a few publications deal with the technical regulatory aspects (Stach et al., 2023) that a technical 
standard would normally refer to. 
To fill this gap, in 2023, the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) conducted a 
market study in order to evaluate 26 EO-AI systems for nautical applications (Koch et al., 2024). Eleven 
out of the 26 systems used night vision technology and 25 used an RGB daylight camera. In total, 15 of 
these 26 systems have incorporated Al-based object detection into the product. In autumn 2023 and 
spring 2024, the BSH conducted field tests in the German Bight to evaluate the performance of such 
an Al supported system compared to the night vision system installed on the ships. Some of the long- 
wave sensors used in the EO systems compared are similar in their technical specification. In Figure 2, 
some of the night vision systems tested are shown mounted on the vessel. 
This report emphasises the importance of EO systems and some basics of image recognition in order 
to highlight why this combination is expected to be important for the IMO and respective ISO stand- 
ards, especially on the way towards a higher automation for nautical tasks. 
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Figure 2: Electro-optical sensor systems for object detections, including Al (left) and two maritime night vision systems compliant with 
MSC.94(72) (right)