Smart Marina
An experimental setup that simulates a marina for scientific research, not an operating marina. The site sits in Rijeka's Port Torpedo, where ASV trials and shoreside integration run alongside real port activity. Autonomous docking is planned as a future development.
The Smart Marina is a 100 m² HDPE research platform permanently moored in Port Torpedo, Rijeka. With a 12 × 9 m footprint and a dedicated 30 m² office and workshop for five to six researchers and engineers, the platform is built for continuous multi-week operations in sheltered harbour conditions.
For partners testing autonomous surface vessels or coastal sensing systems, the environment matters. Port Torpedo gives you real harbour conditions, traffic and infrastructure.
What’s on site.
Everything on hand to run harbour-based autonomy and monitoring research without staging from off-site.
The platform
- HDPE-hulled research platform with a 12 × 9 m footprint
- 100 m² total area, including a 30 m² office and workshop for five to six researchers
- Smart-lock access with video surveillance
- Crane: 2.6 tonne-metre minimum lifting moment, 3.7 m hydraulic reach
- Rooftop rollbar mount for additional equipment
- Solar panels and battery storage, with automatic transfer switch managing the shore-solar-battery-generator priority sequence for continuous operation
Scientific equipment
- Autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) for sheltered and coastal waters
- ASV payload options: lidar, 360° cameras, inspection lidar in vertical plane
- Subsurface profiling float with CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) sonde, designed for coastal environments
- Real-time data offload from ASV for autonomy algorithm development and post-trial analysis
Connected to MARBLE HQ
- High-bandwidth comms back to MARBLE HQ for live data review and remote operations support
- Coordination with the other two MARBLE pilot sites for multi-site campaigns
- Remote operation capability for partners running trials from off-site
What gets tested here.
The Smart Marina is the right site for partners working on:
ASV trials in sheltered and coastal waters
Close-quarters autonomy algorithms (autonomous docking planned as future development)
Camera and lidar perception testing in harbour environments
Environmental data collection
Sensor integration and data offloading from autonomous platforms
Smart marina technology validation (sensing, monitoring, energy)
What makes this site different.
The Smart Marina sits inside a working port environment.
Real traffic, real infrastructure and real harbour conditions. For partners whose technology has to perform in actual harbour or marina settings, this is the environment where those systems will eventually deploy.
The harbour environment
Port Torpedo gives the Smart Marina mixed-use harbour conditions. Coastal vessel traffic creates realistic interference for perception systems. Shore-side infrastructure exposes the integration challenges of operational deployments. Sheltered water lets you control for sea-state variables, while short transits into more open coastal conditions test how systems handle transitions.
Access conditions
Access is tied to research activities approved in advance and runs under agreed conditions. On-site MARBLE technician available. The platform runs on its solar-battery system with shore power and generator backup, with a high-bandwidth data link back to MARBLE HQ.
A look around the platform.
Port Torpedo, the floating platform, and the equipment that sits on it.
The other two sites.
MARBLE operates three Adriatic pilot sites.
Smart Mussel Farm
Aquaculture technology validation, biological monitoring, IoT pilots in living estuarine conditions.
See Smart Mussel Farm → MARBLE Sea Lab · ŠibenikMARBLE Sea Lab
Extended autonomous vehicle trials, underwater sensing, acoustic research.
See MARBLE Sea Lab →Run your trial at the Smart Marina.
Berth monitoring and vessel movement, in a simulated marina setting rather than an empty test tank. Tell us the system and the window, and we will come back with availability and what the trial involves.