# Traffic hub monitoring with satellite data Several satellite sources show the state of ports and traffic hubs worldwide. Satellite AIS reports where ships are, also far from the coast. Radar images show ports by day and night and in any weather. Very high resolution images show yards, containers and vehicles. GNSS trackers and satellite links report where your own goods are. ## The task Critical logistics processes depend on a few hubs: the ports, rail terminals and depots through which goods have to pass. When a hub is congested or closed, the delay can spread through the supply chain before reports arrive. Satellites observe these hubs wherever they are. Earth observation and GNSS support traceability in maritime value chains [4], and GNSS enables the tracking and tracing of vehicles and goods, flow monitoring and the monitoring of assets in transit [7]. ## Which data shows the state of a hub | Data | What it shows | Technology | | ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | | Satellite AIS | Identity, position, course and speed of ships, also far from the coast | Satellite reception of ship signals | | Radar images | Ships and port surroundings, by day and night and in any weather | Earth observation (SAR) | | Very high resolution optical images | Yards, containers, vehicles and ships in port | Earth observation, for example 30 cm | | GNSS trackers | Where your own containers, wagons and trucks are | Satellite navigation | | Satellite links | Tracker data from places without mobile coverage | Satellite communication | Sources: ESA for satellite AIS [1], EUSPA for radar [3], ESA for Pléiades Neo [5], ESA for GNSS tracking and satellite links in land logistics [7]. Satellite AIS fills the gap of terrestrial reception, which ends about 74 km from shore [1]. Satellite imagery checks AIS messages and finds vessels that do not send them [2]. In rail freight, EUSPA estimates the number of tracking devices that use European GNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) at more than 200,000; wagon telematics report the location of the wagons, their loading status and cargo conditions such as temperature [4]. **Figure:** Illustrative map, not real data. A river port and a depot with container yards, connected by the main roads, as hub monitoring would show them. ## How the monitoring works 1. **Choose the hubs and indicators**: for example the number of ships waiting off a port, the occupancy of a container yard or the dwell time of your own wagons. 2. **Combine the sources**: ship positions from satellite AIS, images of the hub and the positions of your own shipments. 3. **Detect objects**: machine learning detects ships, harbour structures and vehicles in images; research datasets for this task contain these object types [6]. 4. **Set a baseline**: the indicators are compared with the normal state of each hub. 5. **Alert and plan**: deviations from the baseline trigger an alert, and planners decide whether to reroute, reschedule or hold stock. ## What you get - a status view of the hubs your supply chain depends on - time series of indicators per hub, such as the number of ships in and around a port - alerts when a hub deviates from its normal state - the position of your own shipments, also beyond mobile coverage, as explained in [tracking fleets beyond mobile coverage](https://leto.space/use-cases/fleet-tracking/) ## Limits **Limits** - **AIS can be wrong or switched off:** Some vessels do not send AIS \[2], and GNSS spoofing in the maritime domain leads to wrong data on a vessel's position, speed and direction \[4]. How to protect positioning is the topic of protecting GNSS-dependent operations. - **Images are snapshots:** An image shows one moment, and optical images need a clear sky. Radar images are available day and night and in any weather \[3], which closes gaps but still gives a series of moments, not a continuous record. - **Public services serve authorities:** The Copernicus Maritime Surveillance Service supports vessel detection and activity monitoring, with data accessible within 30 minutes of a satellite overpass, but it offers this information to the sea-related entities of EU Member States \[4]. A company should check early which commercial AIS and image providers cover its hubs. ## Our client project in this sector One of our four anonymised client projects covers this topic, in mobility and logistics. It used Earth observation, AI, satellite navigation and satellite communication. ### Client project in mobility and logistics - **Topic:** Monitoring global traffic hubs for critical logistics processes. ## How we help Hub monitoring combines several data sources and usually several providers. In [strategy and use cases](https://leto.space/consulting/strategy/) we define which hubs and indicators matter for your logistics decisions. In [implementation](https://leto.space/consulting/implementation/) we run the pilot on a few hubs and connect the indicators to your planning and control tower. The marketplace on [Spacegraph](https://leto.space/spacegraph/), our discovery platform, has an industry category for transport and logistics. ## Related use cases - [Analysing global outdoor storage sites](https://leto.space/use-cases/outdoor-storage-analysis/): Stock at supplier yards and ports, from satellite imagery. - [Tracking fleets beyond mobile coverage](https://leto.space/use-cases/fleet-tracking/): Positions of vehicles and vessels where there is no mobile network. - [Protecting GNSS-dependent operations](https://leto.space/use-cases/gnss-resilience/): Jamming, spoofing and how to keep positions trustworthy. - [Mobility and logistics](https://leto.space/industries/mobility-and-logistics/): Use cases for road, rail, aviation and maritime transport. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is satellite AIS? AIS is the automatic identification system that ships use to transmit their identity, position, course and speed. Large vessels and all passenger ships must carry it under IMO rules. From the ground, AIS signals reach only about 74 km from shore; satellites record them far beyond that and send them to ground stations for processing and distribution [1]. ### Can satellites see ships that do not send AIS? Yes, to a degree. Satellite imagery is used to verify AIS messages and to detect vessels that do not send them [2]. Radar satellites observe by day and night in all weather conditions, and high-resolution radar data give port authorities recent information on changes in cargo and passenger ports [3]. An image is a snapshot of one moment, though, so it complements AIS rather than replacing it. ### How do we start? Choose the two or three hubs whose disruption would hurt your supply chain most, and define what you need to know about them, for example how many ships are waiting. Then compare a few weeks of satellite indicators with what your logistics partners report. Our [consulting overview](https://leto.space/consulting/) shows the path from the problem to operation. ## Sources 1. [Boosting marine traffic monitoring via satellite, European Space Agency (ESA), 2014-07-15](https://www.esa.int/Applications/Connectivity_and_Secure_Communications/Boosting_marine_traffic_monitoring_via_satellite) 2. [ESA Space Solutions: Space for maritime, European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 2026-10-06](https://business.esa.int/maritime) 3. [EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 1, EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2026-05-26](https://www.euspa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/EU_Space_Market_Report_2026.pdf) 4. [EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report, Issue 2, 2024, EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2024](https://www.euspa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/external/publications/euspa_market_report_2024.pdf) 5. [Pléiades Neo, European Space Agency (ESA), Earth Online, accessed 2026-10-06](https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/pleiades-neo) 6. [DOTA: A Large-scale Dataset for Object Detection in Aerial Images, Xia et al., IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2018, 2018](https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.10398) 7. [ESA Space Solutions: Space for land mobility, European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 2026-10-06](https://business.esa.int/mobility-land) Page: