Open Protocol FAQ

Q: What is going on?

European Tracking Network (“ETN”) has repeatedly shared incorrect statements regarding Innovasea’s technology and our position on Open Protocol (“OP”).  They have amplified these incorrect statements on their website, email list and social media.

Contrary to ETN’s claims, Innovasea has made no recent changes to its encryption, or any other changes being claimed by ETN. ETN licensed OP to Innovasea in 2022 and Innovasea began working within the defined terms of participation as a licensee. Today, Innovasea offers multiple OP compatible options in Europe that enable researchers to maintain access to the thousands of existing Innovasea tags in the water, in addition to listening for OPi/OPs equipment from all manufacturers. 

A list of Innovasea’s OP compatible solutions can be found here. Our software allows researchers to activate OP on existing receivers with the Generation 2 firmware (fee applies) and Innovasea’s OP tags are now available. Additionally, Innovasea does produce and support R64K tags.

 

Q: What is ETN’s Open Protocol (OP)?

OP was developed by Lotek, Sonotronics and Thelma Biotel in collaboration with ETN in 2019. One of the main reasons ETN created OP was to address a specific EU-centric procurement challenge in that region that required multi-vendor access in the bid process. In addition, there is the aspiration to have an open infrastructure network that enables more compatibility and collaboration across the globe. However, ETN’s proposed solution, Open Protocol, is not the model for making that possible. As it exists today, OP is merely an extension of the Vemco code spaces that were developed in the early 2000’s. It is an older, less robust communications standard between receivers and tags, and it is limited with respect to the amount and quality of data it can transmit.

Using this technology for global systems would set fish tracking science and research back by as much as a decade in certain instances. Existing coding schemes that are available, including those underpinning the Vemco System and OP, are nearing the end of useful life. The global demand for acoustic telemetry requires new capabilities to meet research needs. That’s why Innovasea has developed solutions that enable researchers to transition to new, more scalable technologies that enable the most widespread advancement of science across the globe.

 

Q: Why does Innovasea charge a fee for OP enablement?

You may have heard that Innovasea is charging a fee to enable OP in existing receivers. Although we disagree with ETN’s model for implementing OP, Innovasea recognizes the value in having universal compatibility within Europe. We do believe ETN’s OP is a short-term bandage to that goal and not a solution. However, we are providing a way for European customers to use OP with Innovasea equipment, charging them a small fee for development and support of that solution. This is necessary because adding OP capability to Innovasea receivers is not a simple firmware upgrade. It requires an extension of capability that necessitates significant engineering resources to accomplish across a large number of receiver platforms and variants. The activation fee is in place to offset our engineering investment to support OP.

 

Q: What is encryption?

Encryption is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a powerful tool to help ensure data integrity. Vemco implemented encryption for its code spaces following several incidents of reverse engineering in the 2000’s. Unscrupulous parties began to sell transmitters on the reverse-engineered code spaces, causing duplication of IDs in the water and undermining the integrity of researchers’ data. Encryption was introduced as a means to ensure that every ID is unique, preventing unauthorized access and duplication from occurring again. This approach is a well-established practice in communications. As an additional benefit for data integrity, encryption also reduces false positive detections. Fundamentally, encryption is used to prevent bad actors from corrupting the communication system. Licensing, on the other hand, allows authorized access to the system. Without encryption, OP is vulnerable to duplication of IDs from unauthorized access and higher rates of false positive IDs in the data.

 

Q: Why is Innovasea concerned with ETN’s OP?

While Innovasea is a strong proponent of more data and more global compatibility, we are concerned with ETN’s proposed Open Protocol solution. Not only should careful thought be given to the reality of mix-and-match systems with varying features, performance and support, but the technology behind Open Protocol will also put data quality at risk for the following reasons.

• Increasing global demand for acoustic telemetry requires new capabilities to meet research needs. OP can only support a limited number of unique IDs. It is not robust enough for telemetry on a global scale and will soon increase the risk of false positives and duplicate ID tags.
• There is no clear roadmap for the evolution of OP infrastructure to sufficiently manage telemetry at a global-scale. With the rapidly escalating demand for sensor tags – especially in North America – OP will require ID reuse in the not-so-distant future. This will be extremely problematic from an ID management point of view, but more importantly, from a peer review and study integrity perspective. The multi-vendor nature of the OP implementation further complicates the innovation and evolution of OP.
• OP does not incorporate encryption and ETN does not see the value in it. As described above, encryption is vital to ensure data integrity. This is a well-established practice used to prevent bad actors from corrupting the system. Data integrity was not prioritized as an integral part of OP’s development. Who will be accountable if the system is jeopardized?

 

Q: Why does Innovasea only offer OP in Europe today?

Innovasea is only offering OP to European customers to address their unique situation and because of Innovasea’s concerns about the technical limitations and implementation approach associated with OP.  The likelihood that OP will require ID reuse (ID code duplication) in the not-too-distant future and the lack of clarity regarding the future evolution of the OP capability in a multivendor environment led Innovasea to the conclusion that OP is not suitable for deployment on a global scale.

 

Q: Why doesn’t Innovasea offer OP on its new NexTrak system?

Innovasea’s NexTrak system and Generation 2 Code Map enable researchers to reach new heights of performance and data analysis and provide the essential infrastructure for integrating both existing and future technologies into their research. Innovasea’s NexTrak system requires a high level of consistency in performance and capability across the receiver and transmitter platforms in order to deliver its breakthrough capabilities.  That level of consistency will not be possible within OP’s multi-vendor environment.