Agents vs. pirates: multi-agent simulation and optimization to fight maritime piracy

Abstract

Contemporary maritime piracy presents a significant threat to the global shipping industry, with annual costs estimated at up to US$12bn. To address the threat, commanders and policymakers need new data-driven decision-support tools that will allow them to plan and execute counter-piracy activities most effectively. So far, however, the provision of such tools has been very limited. To fill this gap, we have employed the multi-agent approach and developed a novel suite of computational tools and techniques for operational management of counter-piracy operations. A comprehensive agent-based simulation enables the stakeholders to assess the efficiency of a range of piracy counter-measures, including recommended transit corridors, escorted convoys, group transit schemes, route randomization and navy patrol deployments. Decision-theoretic and game-theoretic optimization techniques further assist in discovering counter-measure configurations that yield the best trade-off between transportation security and cost. We demonstrate our approach on two case studies based on the problems and solutions currently explored by the maritime security community. Our work is the first integrated application of agent-based techniques to high-seas maritime security and opens a wide range of directions for follow-up research and development.