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Transport/
Specialized fields/
Ports and terminalsPorts and terminals, measured from quay to fence.
A port works when cranes can lift, ships can berth and neighbours can breathe. Wind, water level, air quality and noise sensors, cameras and a private network across the terminal report to one record that the harbour master, the terminal operator and the environment team share.
Plan a deploymentHow it worksStation Builder- Industry
- Transport
- Measurements
- 6
- Sources cited
- 5
Transport · Ports and terminals
Cranes, ships and neighbours
A container crane stops when the wind gusts beyond its limit, a ship waits for the tide, and the homes beyond the fence breathe the port’s air and hear its night shift. Ports that measure wind, water, air and noise across the terminal work closer to their limits and answer their neighbours with evidence.
What is measured
Wind, water, air, noise and images
Anemometers on crane booms and across the terminal read wind and gusts. Tide gauges at the entrance and berths read water level against the chart datum, set beside surveyed depths. Monitors at the boundary measure air quality and noise, and cameras watch quays and gates.
- Instruments
- Crane anemometers · Tide gauges · Air-quality monitors · Noise monitors · Cameras
The base node
A node that stops the cranes in time
The terminal’s edge node reads every point, signs each value and keeps it through any outage. It raises crane wind alarms within seconds, combines tide with berth depth for each arrival, and checks air and noise against limits with the wind direction, so a source can be traced.
Radio and links
Private 5G across the terminal
A private 5G network across quays and yards carries sensors, cameras and moving equipment, with small cells placed to see past container stacks. The port’s fibre links the core, the gates and the control buildings, and battery monitors at the boundary report over LoRaWAN.
- Links
- Private 5G · Fibre · LoRaWAN
How it works
From a gust to a crane stop
An anemometer on a crane boom reads a gust beyond the terminal’s limit. The reading travels over the private network to the edge node, which raises the alarm to the crane driver and terminal control within seconds. The operating system replans moves, and the record keeps it all.
From order to operation · Order
Scope the port and its limits
The scope reads the port layout, crane operating limits, berth and channel depths, the environmental permit and the security plan. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the point plan by crane, berth and boundary, the private network design, the integration with port systems and a price per point and per service.
Plan a deploymentFrom order to operation · Survey
Survey quays, cranes and the fence
Crews survey with the terminal’s engineers: crane mounting points, berth and tide gauge sites, boundary monitor sites facing homes, and radio sites that see past container stacks. They plan access around operations and record security rules for every area. Every candidate site is photographed for the design.
From order to operation · Permits
Security, harbour and city
Work inside the port facility follows its security plan and passes. Tide gauges and anything in the water need the harbour master’s consent, and boundary monitors are placed with the city’s environment team. The private network’s spectrum follows the national licence.
From order to operation · Build
Build for salt air
Sensors, nodes, small cells and the network core are built for salt air, tested together and enrolled with their identities. Crane wind limits come from the crane manufacturers’ operating limits as the terminal holds them, and every part is labelled with its crane, berth or boundary site.
Open the Station BuilderFrom order to operation · Install
Install between ships
Crews install between vessel calls: anemometers on crane booms, tide gauges at berths, monitors at the boundary, cameras over quays and small cells on lighting towers. The core goes into the control building, and every point is photographed and located.
From order to operation · Commission
Test alarms with the cranes
Each device proves its identity on the private network. Anemometers are checked against a reference, tide gauges against the datum, air and noise monitors against reference instruments. Crane wind alarms are tested with the crane drivers and the control room.
From order to operation · Operate
Lift, berth and report on evidence
Crane drivers and the control room see wind at every crane, pilots and the harbour master see tide and depth for each arrival, and the environment team sees air and noise at the boundary with wind direction. Every alarm and every report is kept on one record.
From order to operation · Maintain
Keep the port’s numbers trusted
Anemometers are checked on schedule and after storms, tide gauges against the datum, air and noise monitors calibrated as their methods require, and cameras cleaned of salt. Every change is recorded, so boundary series stand up when the city asks.
Book field servicesData products
For drivers, pilots and the city
Crane drivers and terminal control receive wind alarms; harbour masters and pilots receive tide and depth for each arrival; environment teams and city authorities receive boundary air and noise reports; port security receives quay and gate images. Each product carries the siting and calibration behind it.
See the data productsEvidence
Boundary records the city accepts
Every reading, alarm and report is signed and kept. Depths follow hydrographic survey standards, air quality and noise follow the European directives, port facility security follows the international code, and data is shared through open standards, so the city, the regulator and the port read the same record.
- Drawn against
- IHO S-44 · Directive 2008/50/EC · Directive 2002/49/EC · ISPS Code
What you get
Private Wireless as a Service
Standalone private 5G or LTE for a site, campus, port or mine: radios, core, SIMs, spectrum route and operations. Delivered as managed service and hardware + software, for industrial operators, ports, campuses, venues, public safety. Scale: Per site; fleets of sites.
Talk to salesNext step
Plan ports and terminals with us
Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for ports and terminals. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.
Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio
01The place and its hazards
Where it runs, and what can go wrong.
Operating contextPorts combine a harbour authority that manages water, berths and navigation with terminal operators that move containers, bulk and passengers. Cranes stop in high wind, ships need water depth and tide, and the port boundary faces air quality and noise limits from the city around it. Security rules govern port facilities, and terminals increasingly run on private wireless.
Hazards
- High wind stopping cranes or blowing containers
- Ships grounding where depth is less than charted
- Air quality and noise affecting neighbouring communities
- Collisions between vehicles and people on the quay
- Security incidents at the port facility
02What must be measured
What, where, how often, and under which rules.
Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.
| Measurement | Where | Cadence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind speed and gusts | Crane booms and representative points across the terminal | Continuous, alarms within seconds | 1 |
| Water level and tide | Tide gauges at the harbour entrance and berths | Continuous | 2 |
| Water depth | Channels and berths, from hydrographic surveys | On the harbour authority’s survey schedule | 2 |
| Air quality | Monitors at the port boundary and near berths | Continuous | 3 |
| Environmental noise | Monitors at the boundary facing homes | Continuous | 4 |
| Quay and gate images | Cameras at gates, quays and yards | Continuous to the security room | 5 |
03The observation stack
From one base unit to a network.
The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.
- 01
Base unit
A terminal point: wind, water level, air or noise sensors read by an edge node on the port’s private network.
Build a station → - 02
Site
A terminal: points on cranes, berths and the boundary, a private 5G network and fibre to the port’s systems.
Plan a site → - 03
Fleet
Every terminal of a port or operator run as one fleet, with one record.
Managed offers → - 04
Network
Harbour authorities, terminals, cities and pilots exchange conditions and environmental records through open standards.
The open protocol →
- 01Compact weather station
- 02Water level gauge
- 03Air quality monitor
- 04PTZ camera
- 05Edge node (Wedge)
- 06Cellular modem/router
- 07Small cell (4G/5G)
- 085G core appliance (UPF/core)
- 09Fibre terminal
- 10Lattice tower
Radio and links
Private 5G
One private network across quays and yards carries sensors, cameras and the terminal’s moving equipment, where steel stacks block other radios.
Radio and links
Fibre
The port’s own fibre links the network core, the gates and the control buildings.
Radio and links
LoRaWAN
Battery noise and air monitors at the boundary reach a gateway without new cables.
Edge computeThe terminal’s node raises crane wind alarms within seconds, combines tide with berth depth for each arrival, and checks air and noise against limits with the wind direction, so a source can be traced.
PowerPoints run on terminal power with a battery for outages; boundary monitors run on solar where no supply is near.
04How it works
From the instrument to the product.
One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.
Ports and terminals: data path
– of 09
01 Instruments Measurement with sensor identity andcalibration 02 Node – Wrap in an observation envelope with timequality– Measure quality and uncertainty, attachquality flags– Buffer locally (store-and-forward when thelink drops) 03 Field radio 04 Radio access 05 Core network 06 Backhaul Commit with transactional outbox andpublish, delivered at least once 07 Site Consumer inbox deduplicates and applieseach record once into governed data 08 Data store Governed product through API, map orexport, correction-aware 09 Products OGC SensorThings API3GPP 5GIHO S-44 10 Power and structure 01 Compact weather station SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 02 Water level gauge SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 03 Air quality monitor SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 04 PTZ camera Ethernet 05 Edge node (Wedge) Ethernet · Fibre · USB · RS-485 ·BMC 06 Cellular modem/router Ethernet · USB · RS-232 07 Small cell (4G/5G) Ethernet · Fibre · GNSS antenna ·1PPS/10 MHz 08 5G core appliance (UPF/core) Ethernet · Fibre · BMC 09 Fibre terminal Fibre · Ethernet Site MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B Governed data store Versioned, correction-aware Crane wind alarms Tide and depth for each arrival Boundary air and noise reports Quay and gate images 10 Lattice tower RS-485 RS-485 RS-485 Ethernet Ethernet LTE/NR Ethernet Fibre Fibre| Item | Equipment | Data ports | Protocols | Power in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Compact weather stationAll-in-one or compact station for temperature, humidity, pressure, wind and rain at a site. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC |
| 02 | Water level gaugeRadar, pressure or float gauge for river, lake, reservoir or tide level. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC |
| 03 | Air quality monitorParticulate and gas monitor (PM, NO2, O3, CO, SO2) for outdoor or indoor air. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC |
| 04 | PTZ cameraPan-tilt-zoom camera for wide-area visual monitoring (wildfire, flood, traffic). | Ethernet | RTSP with ONVIF profiles | PoE, 24 V DC |
| 05 | Edge node (Wedge)Rugged edge node that boots from signed media, attests itself and establishes a site cell from little or no infrastructure. | EthernetFibreUSBRS-485BMC | MQTT 5, DMTF Redfish, IEEE 1588 PTP, NTP with NTS, OPC UA | 12 V DC, 24 V DC, 48 V DC, AC mains |
| 06 | Cellular modem/routerLTE or NR modem or router that uses a public carrier or private network as backhaul. | EthernetUSBRS-232 | 3GPP E-UTRA air interface, 3GPP NR air interface, OMA LwM2M | 12 V DC, PoE |
| 07 | Small cell (4G/5G)Integrated base station (radio, baseband, antenna) for private LTE or NR on a local licence, shared-spectrum or leased route. A CBRS CBSD is a small cell that also registers with a spectrum access system. | EthernetFibreGNSS antenna1PPS/10 MHz | 3GPP NR air interface, 3GPP E-UTRA air interface, IEEE 1588 PTP, O-RAN E2, A1, O1 | PoE, 48 V DC, AC mains |
| 08 | 5G core appliance (UPF/core)Local 5G standalone core with user-plane function and local breakout, so site traffic stays on site. | EthernetFibreBMC | 3GPP 5G core service-based interfaces, DMTF Redfish | AC mains, 48 V DC |
| 09 | Fibre terminalOptical network terminal or media converter that lands fibre backhaul at a site. | FibreEthernet | IEEE 1588 PTP | 12 V DC, 48 V DC, AC mains |
| 10 | Lattice towerSelf-supporting or guyed lattice tower for macro radios, links and instruments. | — | — | — |
How it scales
01 Instruments Arbitrary qualified sensors and instruments whosemeasurements are ingested with calibration, units,geometry, time, custody and uncertainty. ×n 02 Node The minimum useful deployable unit: server, ruggedappliance, radio node, sensor gateway, satelliteterminal, AI, scientific, vehicle or virtual node. Node Node agent 03 Site The minimum independently operable localgovernance and failure domain: one or more nodesplus local network, identity, policy, evidence,storage, products and operator surfaces.SITE
Node Node Node ×n 04 Cluster An optional scale or specialisation domain forscheduling, shared storage, accelerators or datalocality.CLUSTER
×n 05 Fleet Coordinates plans, acknowledgements,convergence evidence, update campaigns andcorrection propagation across nodes and sites.FLEET
Fleet controller ×n 06 Federation An exchange of products, capabilities, events orwork across approved, independently administeredtrust domains, using explicit trust, policy,data-locality, version and correction contracts.TRUST DOMAIN
TRUST DOMAIN
TRUST DOMAIN
×n Verifier Applications Data in the field Telemetry Control Data upstream Control Data upstream Control Exchange Evidence Events Exchange- Data in the field
- MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B; connectors for LoRaWAN, OPC UA and instrument buses.
- Telemetry
- OpenTelemetry OTLP.
- Control
- TLS 1.3 with mutual authentication; protobuf messages over gRPC or HTTP/2.
- Data upstream
- At-least-once publication with repeat-safe keys over the control channel or NATS JetStream; QUIC MAY be used on lossy links.
- Evidence
- DSSE-signed in-toto statements; SLSA provenance; SCITT transparency receipts.
- Events
- Event envelopes mapped to CloudEvents 1.0; channels described in AsyncAPI 3.
- Exchange
- OpenAPI 3.1; the OGC API family; SensorThings; STAC; WIS 2.0.
05From order to operation
Every step, from the first call to a running site.
The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.
- 01 Order
Scope the port and its limits
The scope reads the port layout, crane operating limits, berth and channel depths, the environmental permit and the security plan. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the point plan by crane, berth and boundary, the private network design, the integration with port systems and a price per point and per service. 53
- 02 Survey
Survey quays, cranes and the fence
Crews survey with the terminal’s engineers: crane mounting points, berth and tide gauge sites, boundary monitor sites facing homes, and radio sites that see past container stacks. They plan access around operations and record security rules for every area. Every candidate site is photographed for the design.
- 03 Permits
Security, harbour and city
Work inside the port facility follows its security plan and passes. Tide gauges and anything in the water need the harbour master’s consent, and boundary monitors are placed with the city’s environment team. The private network’s spectrum follows the national licence.
- 04 Build
Build for salt air
Sensors, nodes, small cells and the network core are built for salt air, tested together and enrolled with their identities. Crane wind limits come from the crane manufacturers’ operating limits as the terminal holds them, and every part is labelled with its crane, berth or boundary site.
- 05 Install
Install between ships
Crews install between vessel calls: anemometers on crane booms, tide gauges at berths, monitors at the boundary, cameras over quays and small cells on lighting towers. The core goes into the control building, and every point is photographed and located.
- 06 Commission
Test alarms with the cranes
Each device proves its identity on the private network. Anemometers are checked against a reference, tide gauges against the datum, air and noise monitors against reference instruments. Crane wind alarms are tested with the crane drivers and the control room.
- 07 Operate
Lift, berth and report on evidence
Crane drivers and the control room see wind at every crane, pilots and the harbour master see tide and depth for each arrival, and the environment team sees air and noise at the boundary with wind direction. Every alarm and every report is kept on one record. 24
- 08 Maintain
Keep the port’s numbers trusted
Anemometers are checked on schedule and after storms, tide gauges against the datum, air and noise monitors calibrated as their methods require, and cameras cleaned of salt. Every change is recorded, so boundary series stand up when the city asks.
06Data products and integration
What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.
Data products
- Crane wind alarmsCrane drivers and terminal control
- Tide and depth for each arrivalHarbour masters and pilots
- Boundary air and noise reportsEnvironment teams and city authorities
- Quay and gate imagesPort security
Integration
- Terminal operating systemWind stops and restarts are shared with the terminal operating system so moves are replanned.
- Port community and vessel traffic systemsTide and conditions are delivered to the systems pilots and the harbour master use.
- City air quality networkBoundary monitors report through OGC SensorThings so the city sees the same data.
Exchanged through OGC SensorThings API, 3GPP 5G, IHO S-44.
07Questions buyers ask
Before you scope it.
Will a private network work between container stacks?
It is designed with small cells placed to see past stacks, tested during the survey.
Who sets crane wind limits?
The terminal, from its cranes’ operating limits. The network measures and alarms.
Can the city see our boundary data?
Yes, where the port agrees; it is shared through open standards.
Does it help with security?
Cameras feed the security room under the port facility’s security plan.
08Resources
The sources behind this page.
Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.
- 1Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation (WMO-No. 8)World Meteorological Organization
- 2IHO Standards for Hydrographic Surveys (S-44)International Hydrographic Organization
- 3Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for EuropeEuropean Union · 2008
- 4Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the assessment and management of environmental noiseEuropean Union · 2002
- 5International Ship and Port Facility Security CodeInternational Maritime Organization
09Related
Use cases and solutions.
Use caseHybrid air-quality observatory
A few reference analysers and many low-cost nodes, with co-location calibration and an open-data feed.The full use case →SolutionPrivate Wireless as a Service
Standalone private 5G or LTE for a site, campus, port or mine: radios, core, SIMs, spectrum route and operations.Solutions for transport →SolutionMine, plant and port site monitoring
Slope radar, tailings monitoring, dust and water, and site connectivity for operations and closure.Solutions for transport →SolutionHybrid air-quality networks
Reference analysers plus calibrated low-cost nodes, with co-location calibration and an open-data interface.Solutions for transport →10Transport: specialized fields
Other fields of this industry.
Specialized fieldRoads and bridges
Road weather and surface state, traffic counts, bridge vibration and scour, and cameras along the corridor, on cellular and fibre to the traffic centre, for safer winters and evidence-based maintenance.The full field →Specialized fieldRailways
Earthworks and structures, track-side weather and flooding, rail temperature and cameras at level crossings, on the railway’s own mobile network and fibre, for fewer speed restrictions and safer lines.The full field →Specialized fieldAirports
Weather beside the runways, wind shear and visibility support, aircraft noise and air quality in the communities around, on the airport’s fibre and private network, alongside the official aviation weather service.The full field →Specialized fieldRoad and rail tunnels
Air quality and visibility, air flow and ventilation, fire detection, cameras and radio coverage inside the tube, on a radiating cable and fibre with an industrial network kept apart from the internet.The full field →Specialized fieldUrban transit
Passenger counts, station air and climate, escalator and lift condition, traction energy and cameras for metros, trams and buses, on private 5G and fibre, with real-time information riders can use.The full field →Specialized fieldInland waterways and locks
Water levels and depths, flows at weirs, wind and visibility, and cameras at locks and bridges, on LoRaWAN and cellular along the river, feeding the river information services skippers use.The full field →Bring us the site.
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