Graph databases for visualisation and optimization of aquaculture production processes

In the Aquagraph project, Clarify AS, Eide Fjordbruk AS and SINTEF Ocean will help fish farmers structure their data and aid them in focusing their efforts where it is most needed. All in order to make better decisions for the fish and the business. But how do you make decisions that are optimal for both fish health, environment and sustainability at the same time? The fish farmers make difficult decisions every day, and when an event occurs it is difficult to identify the root cause and figure out how to prevent it from happening again. These are central topics with a major impact on fish, profits and the sustainability, regardless of whether the fish is farmed on land, in a fjord, or in the open sea. Aquagraph is about using modern computer science methods to structure and visualise interconnections in the data that follows the fish. We wish to structure and order the data with a much higher level of detail, similar to what e.g. Google is doing the internet. Clarify is already collecting operational data from smolt facilities, boats, fish farms and slaughterhouses. Aquagraph will build on this foundation and enable new ways of structuring data such that an unbroken time-series datastream, with everything the fish experiences, can be collected. In this way the data can be visualised in new ways, and machine learning can be applied to identify weaknesses, and even opportunities for improvement. Eide Fjordbruk will provide data, and function as an end-user in the development and testing of the user interface and analysis tools. SINTEF Ocean has years of experience in both technology and biology for the aquaculture industry will contribute with research.

Through the Aquagraph project, Clarify (formerly Searis) have developed and improved their computer science department, gained insight into the odds and ends of the production process of Atlantic salmon, and in the potential value in the data gathered from this process. The introduction and use of graph databases in the Clarify platform is still in it's infancy, but the Aquagraph project have made it's mark and provided Clarify with an excellent starting point for future integration based on the developed aquaculture onthology. SINTEF Ocean has developed new knowledge in the areas of computer science for aquaculture and graph databases. Being able to work closely with fish farmers and gaining access to real data is truly invaluable when conducting research. SINTEF Ocean has presented project results at several conferences both nationally and internationally, and published one research paper in collaboration with Clarify. Eide Fjordbruk has worked closely with Clarify and SINTEF Ocean to provide valuable insight into their aquaculture data, their production process and their challenges. They have also provided inputs on future developments of the Clarify software, thus strengthening the relationship between Eide Fjordbruk and Clarify. Throughout the project period we have seen how the aquaculture industry has become more and more digitalized, how interesting new technologies are introduced and how the industry is uniting to share more data through initiatives like Aquacloud. The potential for innovation and insight offered by combining the Aquagraph solution with the Aquacloud database is huge, and this is something the project consortium wishes to pursue in future collaborations. Digitalization, data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence is gaining more and more traction in the aquaculture domain. The Aquagraph project, and it's results, will likely have a role to play in the future of digital aquaculture.

The aquaculture industry generates enormous amounts of data every day. Data comes from sensors in the fish cages, cameras, boats, feeding centrals, but also from e-mails and notes made by the people working on the production sites as veterinarians, farmers, or managers. Large data sets are challenging to navigate and many interconnections will be difficult to detect using today's solutions. Thus, the potential value of the generated data in terms of improving aquaculture production, is still not fully exploited. The AquaGraph project will create a novel software tool for production optimization and visualisation of complex interconnections in aquaculture data by using graph databases. The project will focus the research activities (RA) towards: RA1: Graph database foundation, RA2: Visualisation of data in graph databases and RA3: Using graph databases to improve aquaculture operations. The developed tool will contribute to digitalization of the aquaculture industry, more optimal production and improved decision support by combining methods from computer science, cybernetics and the precision fish farming concept.