NSSLGlobal will now provide, install and service DDK’s GNSS Precise Point Positioning (PPP) solution which enhances the ability of NSSLGlobal’s customers to precisely locate and track their assets. DDK’s independent GNSS technology is provided exclusively through Iridium’s global satellite constellation, and creates a robust, resilient and completely independent GNSS solution that has an enhanced accuracy of less than 5cm, compared to the standard GPS accuracy of 10m.

Kevin Gaffney, DDK Positioning CEO based in Aberdeen, said: “This partnership is a fantastic fit for DDK Positioning. We are now in a place to provide our clients with our precise positioning solutions globally and we are delighted to formalise our working relationship with NSSLGLobal with the signing of this new strategic alliance. To continue the journey with such a strong and well-respected company such as NSSLGLobal, and with their reach in the market, makes great sense and we are looking forward to the journey that we will have together.”

Paul Rutherford, service director, NSSLGlobal, commented: “DDK Positioning is leading the field in advanced GNSS positioning. We’re pleased to partner with such an innovative company and to be able to add this technology offering on top of the already extensive navigation and communication portfolio we offer our customers. The system will provide greater location accuracy, along with the ability to help detect and mitigate spoofing,”

Source: thedigitalship

Source: thecowboychannel

Videosoft’s adaptive low bandwidth video streaming technology has been selected and installed on the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) to help relay high-quality footage of the ship’s various missions back to humans on land.

On its maiden voyage this spring, MAS will trace the route of the famous 1620 Mayflower, sailing from Plymouth, UK, to Plymouth, MA, only this time there will be no human captain or crew on board as the 15m, lightweight, hybrid-electric powered trimaran crosses the Atlantic.

Videosoft’s technology will help capture footage from six cameras on board the Mayflower whilst at sea

Using satellite connectivity and compression technologies, footage will be transmitted back to AI developers and research scientists providing real-time feedback and visuals during the mission. It will also be used to provide the media and public with updates about interesting events that occur during the ship’s ocean adventures.

“The ability to receive live video feed from the ship using minimal communication bandwidth is a game changer for us,” said Don Scott, Chief Technology Officer of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship. “Videosoft provides real-time telepresence allowing us to reliably monitor the live situation and give us confidence in the vehicle’s operation at sea. It has already been an invaluable tool during sea trials and we look forward to having the live feed during the voyage itself.”

Source: cyprusshippingnews

The “Mayflower 400” — the world’s first intelligent ship — bobs gently in a light swell as it stops its engines in Plymouth Sound, off England’s southwest coast, before self-activating a hydrophone designed to listen to whales.

The 50-foot (15-metre) trimaran, which weighs nine tonnes and navigates with complete autonomy, is preparing for a transatlantic voyage.

On its journey the vessel, covered in solar panels, will study marine pollution and analyse plastic in the water, as well as track aquatic mammals.

Eighty percent of the underwater world remains unexplored.

Brett Phaneuf, co-founder of the charity ProMare and the mastermind behind the Mayflower project, said the ocean exerts “the most powerful force” on the global climate.

Rosie Lickorish, a specialist in emerging technologies at IBM, one of the partners on the project, said the unmanned craft provided an advantage in the “unforgiving environment”.

“Having a ship without people on board allows scientists to expand the area they can observe,” she told AFP.

A variety of technology and service providers have contributed to the project with hundreds of individuals involved from nations including India, Switzerland and the United States, said Phaneuf.

The project would have cost 10 times the roughly $1 million (820,000 euros) invested by ProMare without the “global effort,” he added.

– Smart captain –

The non-profit venture will offer the data gathered by the project free of charge. The information could be of particular use to the future of commercial shipping.

The autonomous ship is scheduled to embark on May 15 if weather is favourable and permission is granted by British authorities.

The journey to Plymouth, Massachusetts — the same voyage made by pilgrims on the original “Mayflower” in 1620 as they sought a new life in America — will take three weeks.

While the Mayflower 400 voyage has been delayed because of the pandemic, Phaneuf said at least no one will fall ill on the trip.

“No one will get bored or tired or sick on this one. So it can take as long as it likes to do science,” he said from the British port.

Sitting alongside him were three computer technicians checking the equipment remotely.

Meirwen Jenking-Rees, a 21-year-old student engineer, checked the ship’s engines before it headed out for a sea trial.

Construction of the trimaran, which is automated from the robotic rudder that steers it to the diesel generator that supplements its solar power, took a year.

Developing its “smart captain”, the onboard artificial intelligence, took even longer as the computer has had to learn how to identify maritime obstacles by analysing thousands of photographs.

– Lack of regulations –

The “Mayflower 400” also had to be taught how to avoid collisions and first went to sea for “supervised learning”.

Robotics and software engineer Ollie Thompson said that by running a “number of scenarios” the ship can learn “what are good actions, bad actions, so safe and unsafe”.

So if it makes a mistake, the boat can correct itself “and then learn itself,” he added.

The automated vessel uses its “eyes” and “ears” — a sophisticated system of six cameras and radar — to continue learning on its own.

Because of a lack of regulations around unmanned sailing, the Mayflower 400 is yet to be tested in rough seas or storms, a situation Jenking-Rees described as a “worst case scenario”.

In simulated settings, however, the robotic craft has faced 50-metre waves.

Lickorish explained that the boat’s artificial intelligence will be pivotal in conducting scientific experiments.

“It was trained with hundreds of hours of audio data,” she said, “to detect the presence of marine mammals, recognise the marine mammals, and actually tell us something about population distributions out in the open ocean”.

Analysing the chemical composition of the water, measuring sea levels and collecting samples of microplastics are the ship’s other missions.

While the ship is totally autonomous, the team will monitor the ship 24 hours a day from England, ready to intervene remotely in case of danger.

Source: france24

The maritime research vessel Mayflower Autonomous Ship is a first-of its-kind autonomous ship — and IBM technology played a central role in bringing it to life. On its inaugural journey, the ship will commemorate the original Mayflower by following its transatlantic route. But this modern Mayflower will gather critical ocean data on the impact of climate change and pollution so that marine researchers can better understand and protect our oceans — now and into the future.

IBM engineered the crewless ship with three layers of technology: sensory inputs, real-time machine learning and analytics, and a decision engine. IBM experts used petabytes of data to train machine learning models and wrote rules-based decisioning for the decision engine, enabling the ship to react to an often-treacherous ocean environment — with zero human intervention. It adheres to maritime law while making crucial split-second decisions. It reroutes itself around harsh weather environments. It collects and analyzes massive amounts of ocean data. And it does it all 24/7.

By extending the ship’s groundbreaking intelligent automation, operational decision-making, edge computing and AI-powered remote monitoring technologies across industries, we can pave the way for the next generation of innovation, efficiency, safety and cost-savings in your business.

Source: ibm