UK MoD Smart Port Contract Awarded for HMNB Portsmouth

Smarter Technologies, a leading British provider of Internet-of-Things (IoT) solutions, has won a contract to operate its proprietary Orion IoT data network technology at His Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth. 

Previously, as part of the £5.2 billion Future Maritime Support Program (FMSP), an asset-tracking trial and demonstration at HMNB Devonport identified over 60% efficiencies in the time spent managing essential operational assets. On the evidence of that success, HMNB Portsmouth has agreed its own contract to lead innovation in the use of IoT technology for operational efficiency.

In the initial phase of the new contract, Orion will track mission-critical Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), improve mission-critical asset management, provide decision support insight, assist equipment fleet optimization and identify operational efficiencies. Subsequent phases will extend the benefits of Smarter Technologies’ IoT network technology to other use cases in a ‘smart port’ context. These include monitoring extreme weather patterns for better work scheduling, mitigating infrastructure risk with operational threshold alerts, retrofitting smart building solutions to automate and improve HSE compliance, save on utility costs and reduce its carbon footprint.

Smarter Technologies will work closely with HMNB Portsmouth and KBS Maritime to advance the scope and scale of smart-port operations, as part of its aggressive program of innovation. Lessons will also be shared with the FMSP Performance Support Team, to maximize the value of HMNB Portsmouth’s investment for the Royal Navy and UK defense. 

The intention is to build on these early phases, extend to other beneficial applications at HMNB Portsmouth, exploit the affordable versatility and scalability of the Orion IoT network and demonstrate the value it could bring to other defense establishments. For example, the data collected at HMNB Portsmouth – and from the earlier trial at HMNB Devonport – will be available to a Navy-sponsored ‘Smart Port’ digital twin project that supports its ambitious transformation agenda, bringing the power of reliable automated data to its visualizations.

Matt Walker, Product Manager for Orion at Smarter Technologies, said: “Smarter Technologies have been leading the way in complex, high-value and global asset-tracking solutions for years – our solutions are tried and tested. This contract will bring a step change in data insight to HMNB Portsmouth and our experience shows that HMNB Portsmouth’s desire to drive innovation combined with our technology will translate into more resilient support operations, better mission assurance and improved efficiency. This exciting new MoD initiative in the Maritime domain also complements our existing activities in Air and Land.”