Introduction
Saññã is a cloud-based technology enabler transforming sea ports into futuristic smart ports. It uses multiple new-age technologies like artificial intelligence, Big data, etc. to build innovative tools and processes to tackle operational challenges. It transforms complicated procedures like managing access requests and maintaining perimeter vigilance into a user-friendly application. It combines multiple hardware technologies such as RFIDs, CCTV cameras, Fiber optic cables, and software systems to make the process more efficient. Saññã also has the scope to accommodate additional customized modules as per the requirements of any port.
Challenges
Handling access requests digitally:
Handling access requests for vehicles and people to enter the port is a huge pain point for both the authorities and the general public. People wait in long queues for hours to get the permit approved. This delay can result in an operational bottleneck and also can create chaos. Maintaining the data sanctity, and adherence to the procedure is a huge challenge for the officials, which is a potential security and data threat. Hence, there's a need to streamline the process by developing a seamless solution using which any person can easily raise/maintain entry requests and subsequently enter the port hassle-free.
Maintaining Perimeter Security:
Considering the size of the ports, it is a huge challenge to maintain perimeter security. Traditional systems in security need to be updated with the latest technologies to ensure proper vigilance. One such technology is PIDS (Perimeter Intrusion Detection System), which uses optical fiber technology to identify and report to the officials any potential intrusion, ensuring perimeter security.
Challenges while developing Saññã:
While designing Saññã, our focus was to create a secure, flexible, and scalable solution that would eliminate the pain points of all the stakeholders. Since, Saññã, among other things, has to deal with busy entry/exit points, it cannot afford to have any downtime. Any small delay can result in huge queues of trucks at each entry. Hence, the goal was to develop it in such a way that it could handle a high volume of requests, reliably, with no downtime.
Solutions
Handling access requests digitally:
Saññã handles hundreds of requests each hour. Any downtime would create chaos in the port creating hurdles in operations. To ensure its 100% availability, it is built on Amazon EC2 which provides a secure, and scalable platform with 99.9% availability. Amazon EC2 also makes the replacement of instances easy & rapid and ensures security by working with Amazon VPC. Amazon RDS is also used as a database service to ensure availability. Its security features such as data recovery/backup enable the system to be foolproof.
Reducing Latency:
Saññã is used in a fast-paced environment. Any delay in its working may result in operational hurdles and also a delay in information-sharing, both of which can be a big risk. To ensure near-zero latency, Amazon CloudFront is used which uses more than 400 globally positioned POPs, and its intelligent mapping technology to ensure quick content delivery, also ensuring data security and cost-effectiveness.
Other tools that are used to build Saññã are Amazon CloudWatch for operational monitoring and reporting. Amazon Route-53, a routing service to route end-users to Saññã., Amazon Autoscaling to handle surges in traffic at peak hours.
Services Used
Outcomes
