Port of Riga to Test Resilient Maritime Communications

The Port of Riga will become a live testing environment for resilient maritime communications, after port technical services provider LVR Flote and connectivity firm HARDMODE signed a Memorandum of Understanding on October 23, 2026.

The signing took place at the Techritory Forum in Riga. It establishes a framework for developing and testing secure communication solutions built to keep critical port operations running in both normal conditions and when commercial networks fail.

For shippers and carriers calling at the Baltic port, that last part is not theoretical. The region has seen repeated Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) interference affecting shipping and port operations — a persistent nuisance that has pushed infrastructure resilience up the agenda across the Baltic Sea.

What does the partnership actually test?

The cooperation targets connectivity between vessels, sensors, vehicles, drones and port infrastructure — specifically in situations where conventional commercial communication networks become unavailable.

HARDMODE's approach layers multiple technologies into one system: mobile, non-terrestrial, tactical and narrowband communications, combined so that alternative connections can carry the load when one technology drops out. The architecture also relies on decentralised network nodes that communicate directly with each other while supporting the software individual operational applications need.

In plain terms: no single point of failure. When the mobile network blinks out, something else picks up the traffic.

Riga provides the real-world laboratory. LVR Flote, which handles technical services and infrastructure maintenance at the port, will assess the technologies against practical operational requirements — not lab conditions.

Potential applications include:

• Hydrographic surveys
• Infrastructure monitoring
• Navigation safety
• Maintenance activities
• Coordination between port stakeholders

The executives' case

HARDMODE's founder and CEO, Artūrs Lindenbergs, framed the problem in blunt operational terms. "Critical infrastructure is getting more demanding every year. As more sensors, vehicles and systems are connected, more of a port's daily work stops when connectivity drops," he said.

Lindenbergs explained that the company's combination of multiple communication technologies with a decentralised network architecture allows alternative connections to support operations when individual systems go dark.

LVR Flote's board member Kaspars Ozoliņš kept the bar equally practical. "Port technical services have to keep running in everyday operations and in a crisis alike," he said. "Together with HARDMODE, we want to explore how hydrographic surveys, infrastructure maintenance and coordination with other port stakeholders could continue even when conventional networks are disrupted."

That is the right question. Ports have spent a decade wiring sensors, drones and automation into daily workflows. Most of that kit assumes the network holds. In the Baltic, of all places, that assumption gets tested.

Wider European ambitions, no timetable yet

Beyond the initial trials, the partners intend to establish an open testing framework inviting other companies working on critical port infrastructure — providers of monitoring systems, sensors, automation technologies and digital port services that depend on reliable data exchange.

LVR Flote will contribute operational expertise and access to real port service requirements, giving technology companies a working maritime environment to evaluate their solutions. The cooperation also carries an international dimension, reflecting HARDMODE's ties to Latvia and the Netherlands, with joint international research and development initiatives on the drawing board.

The commercial endpoint is explicit: the companies plan to explore commercialising and expanding successful technologies into other European maritime markets.

Worth noting what has not been announced: no commercial deployment contract, no investment value, no timetable for introducing these systems into regular port operations. This is a development and testing partnership, not a rollout.

Still, the direction of travel matters. Baltic GNSS interference has turned resilient communications from an engineering curiosity into procurement homework for port operators across Northern Europe. If Riga's trials prove that decentralised, multi-channel connectivity can hold hydrographic surveys and stakeholder coordination together during a network outage, expect other European ports — several of which face the same interference problem — to come asking for the playbook.