Rutter, the St. John’s-based maker of equipment for the defence and marine industries, will lead a $3.1 million Ocean Supercluster project to bring Internet of Things, or IoT, technology to marine radar.

On Thursday, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, the Atlantic Canada-based organization that supports the country’s ocean economy, unveiled the Rutter IoT Project, its 15th project to date. The project’s goal is to use IoT technology to enhance remote monitoring while storing and analyzing the captured data in the cloud.

The Supercluster and Rutter have both committed to contributing $721,560, while the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program is providing up to $499,750 in R&D funding. The Newfoundland and Labrador government is providing $743,823.

“Since 1998, Rutter has been on the leading edge of ocean technology – developing innovative, best-in-class marine radar augmentation and imaging,” said Rutter Chair Fraser Edison in a statement. “Today, we are thrilled to embark on the ‘next wave’ of Radar-as-a-Service – leveraging the power of cloud technology to develop new applications for mariners, scientists, offshore renewable energy and oil and gas operators worldwide.”

The other main partner in the project is Husky Energy, which will provide vessels that can be used for data collection and assist with research and development.

Rutter already makes radar processing equipment under the sigma S6 brand name, and it is used in such industries as offshore renewable energy, environmental monitoring, and oil and gas. Its clients are based in more than 40 countries.

The Rutter IoT Project platform will help with the remote tracking of such phenomena as the movement of pack ice or icebergs, oil spills or tracking suspicious vessels. As well as industrial customers, the research community will receive real-time data in many of these areas.

The Rutter IoT Project will create 12 jobs – four when the project begins and eight at the conclusion.

“The availability and access to data will become increasingly important as we grow what is becoming an increasingly digital ocean economy,” said Ocean Supercluster CEO Kendra MacDonald. “This collaboration between Rutter and Husky Energy will  . . . create new jobs, and provide radar ocean data that is important for decision making and operations across ocean sectors.”