Synmax

Tell us about Synmax. What sets you apart?

SynMax is an innovative satellite data analytics company dedicated to providing actionable intelligence to its customers and bringing transparency to traditionally opaque industries.

It was founded in 2021 by Bill Perkins, an energy trader who envisioned bringing a competitive edge to the energy markets by combining the objective proof afforded by satellite imagery with the scalability of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). Since then, we have expanded our scope beyond the energy markets, utilizing our proprietary AI technology and knowledge of satellite imagery to capture the ground truth of vessel movements on the high seas with our maritime domain awareness platform, Theia.

Our skilled tech team, in partnership with subject matter experts (SME’s), created the revolutionary SynMax product suite, incorporating technological advances to deliver a tailored groundbreaking platform that is fit for purpose as a tool, in addition to being academically pioneering.

Intelligence best practices require the analysis of more than one data source. Theia was created to be data agnostic, meaning that it can fuse and layer complementary datasets to minimize blind spots. SynMax’s strategic partnership with Planet Labs means we ingest more than 20 million square kilometers of medium-resolution over-ocean satellite imagery daily- more than any other intelligence provider. This imagery acts as Theia’s baseline and is fused and enhanced with additional sources such as global, 24/7 automatic identification system (AIS) data, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and many more. SynMax’s AI extracts value in near real-time, which would otherwise require hundreds of human analysts. Our bespoke approach empowers us to tailor a user’s experience to fit their needs.

Using satellite imagery as its baseline, Theia has been trained to detect vessels above ten meters automatically and attribute vessels above thirty meters down to their individual IMO numbers, even if they do not have their AIS turned on.

As such, SynMax’s products act as dramatic force multipliers, automatically providing analysts and decision-makers with otherwise impossible amounts of genuinely actionable intelligence.

What projects are you working on, and how do they contribute to the company’s mission and vision?

Theia- a comprehensive maritime domain awareness solution that provides daily global monitoring of vessels across millions of km2 of ocean Our proprietary AI enables maritime event detection at strategic and tactical levels and the detection of actual dark ships.

Hyperion- US oil and natural gas: a cutting-edge oil and natural gas production intelligence solution designed to revolutionize how you understand and optimize well production. By harnessing the power of daily satellite imagery, artificial intelligence (AI), and industry experts, Hyperion offers an unprecedented ground-truth perspective on oil and gas production trends in the L48. With a focus on accuracy and timely intelligence, Hyperion empowers oil and gas traders, producers, explorers, and operators to make the right decisions at the right time.

Leviaton- An advanced predictive and visual solution for LNG intelligence. It specializes in real-time monitoring and predictive analysis of LNG vessels on parameters such as cargo volumes, ETAs, shipping routes, and destinations. Leviaton combines AIS, satellite data, machine learning, and market intelligence to give the user a complete view of the past, present, and future whereabouts of any LNG tanker in the world.

Vulcan- Revolutionizes coal stock monitoring and sets a new standard in understanding the dynamics of power, gas, and coal markets. Utilizing cutting-edge satellite imagery, Vulcan provides plant-level insights at crucial plants, enhancing predictors of US coal stocks for stakeholders in the coal, power, and gas sectors. Its Under Contraction tool offers insights into future project developments by accurately predicting when projects will come online.

What opportunities and challenges lie ahead for you?

Going forward, our primary motivation is to increase the number of data sources being ingested into Theia. This would include the capability to tip and cue high-resolution electro-optical and SAR imagery from within Theia, the ingestion of ADINT and SIGINT, and open-source webcams internally within to platform. Providing additional data from diverse sources builds scalability and robustness within the product.

As satellite imagery resolution and capture time improve, Theia will be capable of automatically detecting and identifying smaller vessels on a more frequent timeframe.

One of our biggest challenges will be to stay ahead of other intelligence providers. SynMax is the only intelligence provider mass ingesting over-ocean satellite imagery and providing broad oceanic surveillance. We are aware that, as time goes on, other providers will learn from our success. As such, we are continuing to push the boundaries of our technology, creating proprietary modules to identify and counter duplicitous maritime behaviour and keeping Theia at the forefront of maritime domain awareness technology.

How is OEUK membership benefiting SynMax, whether in terms of networking, resources, or industry insights?

Despite our success in the commercial and defence industries, SynMax is still a small company. As such, OEUK membership is invaluable to SynMax, allowing us to attend high-value events and interact meaningfully with industry peers. The opportunities and events from OEUK provide a significant boost for SynMax into the maritime industry as a whole, with potential resources to support expansion, marketing, and industry insight, creating the possibility for collaboration with other industry members.

Have you participated in any recent OEUK events? Which events are you looking forward to this year?

SynMax attended and presented at the OEUK’s national power outage exercise in November 2023. We were excited to participate in the OEUK Conference 2024 – Powering Our Energy Future: Secure, Sustainable, Skilled.

How do you see the industry looking in 20 years?

We anticipate that while sanctions continue to be used against rogue oil-rich states, the dark fleet problem will continue. Non-state and rogue-state actors will continue to threaten global freedom of navigation, exploring novel and experimental forms of asymmetrical warfare. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing will continue to grow as a problem, negatively impacting countries’ territorial waters and economies without the hard and soft power to defend themselves.

However, in the face of this negativity, we can see a future where technology and ingenuity will be used to negate and remove these threats. Our maritime domain awareness platform, Theia, is an example of the technology innovation required to identify and take action against bad actors. Already, Theia has impacted the maritime environment and how it is policed. In the future, we believe this impact will continue to grow.

When vessels and their crews know that they cannot hide on the open oceans without being identified and action taken against them, increased levels of accountability will impact their ability to continue operating. We have seen, per the Red Queen hypothesis (Alice in Wonderland), illicit behavior, such as spoofing, become increasingly complex in response to ever more capable surveillance. However, satellite imagery and AI analytics, such as those employed by Theia, will continue to improve and remove any advantage inferred by illicit behavior in the first place. Indeed, even engaging in behaviors such as AIS spoofing has, and will increasingly, become a red flag, drawing the eye and inviting increased attention to the user’s activities.

We firmly believe that when used properly, AI offers a dramatic increase in scalability. As such, we can see person-hours becoming less of a limiting factor in intelligence projects. Theia filters and analyzes otherwise impossible amounts of data, providing analysts with the information they need when they need it. This will lead to a revolution in the intelligence analysis. Vast sections of the maritime industry, and indeed all industries, that have previously been overlooked due to a lack of resources will be opened up and explored. This is an exciting prospect.

Not only does Theia save time with the manual data analysis, but it can also act as a force multiplier for physical assets. Vessels engaged in illicit behaviors can be flagged automatically, meaning that regulatory vessels can be dispatched to exactly where they are needed rather than patrolling indefinitely in the hope of stumbling upon bad actors. As such, states with large maritime territories and small navies or coastguards will be able to police their jurisdictions more effectively and with less reliance on larger states. This will have a massive impact on illegal fishing, worker mistreatment, smuggling of weapons, people and drugs, and a host of other vital areas.

Find out more: http://www.synmax.com/