Coastal waters are a strategic asset for tourism, fishing, biodiversity and quality of life. Yet most marinas still monitor them with episodic tools, manual sampling, weekly lab analyses, paper reports, that leave operators effectively blind in between measurements.
acquamArIna is the platform with which Infordata Sistemi Società Benefit brings digital transformation to harbour environmental management. It is a full-stack IoT + AI system that combines a mesh of in-water multi-parameter sensors, a machine-learning engine that estimates the parameters that cannot be measured in real time, and an operator console for harbour staff, complemented by a public-facing dashboard for citizens and authorities.
How it works
A mesh of 8 multi-parameter IoT probes (tested and supported vendors: DISEN-Sensor and Lohand Biological) continuously measures the core water-quality parameters: ORP, pH, conductivity, turbidity, oil-in-water, PAH, nitrates and chlorophyll. The telemetry flows over MQTT on a fully open-source stack hosted in EU datacenters and is indexed by campaign, deployment and individual sensor.
In parallel, a Machine Learning model — trained on lab samples paired with sensor readings, produces real-time estimates of parameters that are impractical to monitor continuously: COD, BOD, TSS and the heavy metals that matter most in harbour environments (Pb, Cd, Hg, Cu, Zn, Ni, As, Cr).
Estimates are virtual but traceable: every KPI carries its computation methodology and regulatory references (D.Lgs. 152/2006 Annex 1 Table 1B; Directive 2008/105/EC; MARPOL).
The anomaly detection layer (CUSUM, MAD, z-score) automatically surfaces exceedances, sensor drift, deviations from expected patterns, and suspected leaks in the harbour drainage network. The Asset Digital Twin module models filters, membranes, reactors and pumps as first-class objects, with their own health score, clogging probability and predictive maintenance needs.
What the operator sees
The harbour staff console is built around the situational awareness principle: a live marina geomap with sensor placement, a parameter grid with tolerance bands, an AI insight feed (e.g. “Cu predicted to rise +47% over the next 8 hours — likely antifouling leach”), an alarm timeline, and a maintenance backlog auto-generated from inefficiency indicators.
Every alert ships with a recommended response procedure (inspect drainage segment P3-N, close shore-side valve, schedule a grab-sample within 4 hours) linked to the internal ticketing system.
What the citizen sees
On the public side, /v2/public/dashboard exposes a WCAG 2.2 AA dashboard with a synthetic WQI (0–100) score based on the CCME formula, the bathing risk status, the marina’s ESG score and a mapping against the 2030 Agenda SDGs. It runs in three modes — web, kiosk (dockside totems) and embed (for harbour authority and municipal websites).
Citizens can also report observed anomalies (oil sheens, pollution events, wildlife in distress) via a public endpoint with rate-limiting, anti-spam honeypot and automatic EXIF stripping of photo uploads. Reports feed the harbour staff’s moderation queue.
Open data and governance
All data published under /v2/public/* is released under CC BY 4.0, with a documented OpenAPI 3.1 contract, consistent with the open-publication obligation of the regional grant. The pipeline never exposes operator identities, device serial numbers or commercial information (see ADR 0013 – Public data licence and PII boundary).
Project status
acquamArIna is at TRL 6 at its Trieste marina demo site (Strada per Vienna 55/1). The platform runs with 8 active probes and over 90 days of historical telemetry already processed by the model. The upcoming development phases (15–21) bring sensor-channel normalisation, a feature store with prediction intervals, a root-cause classifier, a full asset digital twin, an auditable RAG knowledge base, and labelled synthetic data generation for continuous testing.
Why this matters
The tourist marina is one of the most direct contact points between human activity and the sea. An oil sheen detected in 12 minutes rather than 12 hours can mean the difference between a managed event and an environmental incident. A rising copper trend caught by the AI lets you close the shore-side valve before the concentration exceeds regulatory limits. A public WQI gives municipalities, port authorities and citizens a shared, verifiable yardstick for the health of their own sea.
For Infordata Sistemi Società Benefit, acquamArIna is the natural continuation of a track record of European projects on aquatic-ecosystem protection (REMEDIES, INSPIRE, Maelstrom, SeaClear2.0, TASC-RestoreMed) and a further confirmation of the company’s role as a technology partner for Mediterranean sustainability.
Sales contact: [email protected] · +39 040 367189
Demo site: Trieste · Strada per Vienna 55/1
Co-funded by: PR FESR FVG 2021–2027 — Action a1.3.1
Infordata Sistemi S.r.l. Società Benefit is a Trieste-based ICT company, active since 1997 in access control, automatic identification, IoT and software solutions. ISO 9001:2015 and ISO/IEC 27001:2024 certified, ACN qualified for cloud services, with a Grade-B ESG rating.