US shipbuilder Metal Shark Boats is to supply the US Coast Guard (USCG)’s Research and Development Center (RDC) with a new vessel for the purposes of testing and evaluating the capabilities of autonomous technologies, following a new partnership with Sea Machines Robotics.

The 9-metre monohull pilothouse vessel will come equipped with the Sea Machines SM300 autonomous-command and remote-helm control system, offering capabilities including transit autonomy, collaborative autonomy, collision avoidance and remote vessel monitoring.

Demonstrations are scheduled for October off the coast of Hawaii, where the RDC team will test and evaluate the vessel’s autonomous capabilities for their potential to support USCG surveillance, patrol and other missions. Following the Hawaii demonstrations, the autonomous vessel will be returned to the RDC’s New London facility, where it will take part in additional testing.

“As the premier USCG facility performing research, development, test and evaluation in support of the service’s major missions, the RDC team is eager to observe Sea Machines’ system in action,” said USCG’s Derek Meier, Assistant Demonstration Director.

“The exercises will ultimately help us determine how, when, and if this innovative technology can be used to support personnel who are executing a variety of Coast Guard activities.”

Source: smartmaritimenetwork

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS), an AI and solar powered marine research vessel, has taken to the water to begin sea trials ahead of its unmanned transatlantic voyage following the route taken by the original Mayflower in 1620.

Following two years of design, construction and training of its AI models, the fully-autonomous trimaran has now been lifted into the waters off the coast of Plymouth, England, as it prepares to spend the next six months undertaking various research missions before attempting to cross the Atlantic in Spring 2021.

The new-generation Mayflower will work in tandem with scientists and other autonomous vessels to provide oceanographic data on issues such as global warming, micro-plastic pollution and marine mammal conservation. The project has been co-ordinated by ocean research non-profit ProMare, working alongside technology company IBM and a number of scientific organisations.

The new Mayflower features a purpose-built AI Captain which gives the vessel the ability to sense, think and make decisions at sea with no human captain or onboard crew. The marine AI is underpinned by IBM’s latest edge computing systems, automation software, computer vision technology and Red Hat Open Source software.

“Able to scan the horizon for possible hazards, make informed decisions and change its course based on a fusion of live data, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship has more in common with a modern bank than its 17th century namesake,” said Andy Stanford-Clark, Chief Technology Officer, IBM UK & Ireland.

“With its ability to keep running in the face of the most challenging conditions, this small ship is a microcosm for every aspiring 21st century business.”

A new interactive web portal has been built at MAS400.com to allow members of the public to follow real-time updates about the ship’s location, environmental conditions and data from its various research projects.

“MAS400.com is one of the most advanced ocean mission web portals ever built,” said Fredrik Soreide, Scientific Director of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship project and Board Member of ProMare.

“Protecting the ocean depends on our ability to engage the public in important matters affecting its health. This MAS400 portal is designed to do exactly that and tell people where the ship is, what speed it’s travelling at, what conditions it’s operating in and what science we are conducting.”

Source: smartmaritimenetwork

Torgeir Sterri, Regional Manager Western Europe and Bjørn-Johan Vartdal, Maritime Digital Director at DNV GL – Maritime discussed developments in autonomous shipping in an interview with The Motorship

While the recent Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digitalisation and Big Data tools both within DNV GL – Maritime itself, and among customers interested in tools such as DATE, eCERTS and remote surveys, a second potentially disruptive technology – autonomous vessels technology – remains some way off reshaping the maritime industry, Torgeir Sterri noted.

Sterri noted that while accelerating research into autonomous technology had led to progress, the challenges connected with autonomous vessels need to be acknowledged.

These challenges were not merely the strains caused by the pace of technological progress outpacing slower moving developments in standards and guidance, or issues around liability, or the location of decision making for remotely operated machinery.

Rather, they were issues around how to ensure that technology meet safety requirements. Sterri emphasised that DNV GL’s prime concern remained ensuring safety at sea.

“It needs to be as safe as – if not better than  – what we have today.”

DNV GL published its first class guideline covering autonomous and remotely operated ships, and its position paper into remote controlled and autonomous ships in the maritime industry back in September 2018, but the pace of development meant rules remains a work in progress, Bjørn-Johan Vartdal added.

“We have the technology today to run autonomous ships, but [not] to ensure that they are sufficiently reliable,” Vartdal said.

DNV GL is continuing to support a product assurance approach rather than a process assurance approach to ensuring the safety of autonomous vessels and systems.

“We would like regulators (IMO or flag states) to define the required safety level for a technology, and for class to come up with the methodologies to define that the required safety level has been met,” Vartdal said.

“Our job as a class society is to find a methodology to demonstrate that something that is designed or made by somebody is as safe or safer than what has been designed today.”

However, the product assurance approach has extended DNV GL’s safety assurance requirements into new areas, requiring new and highly complex methodologies to evaluate the reliability of autonomous systems.

“We are trying to assure that the technology is doing the job of a human in a sufficiently safe manner, which is a different task to ensuring the safety of a vessel’s hull or issuing type approval for a ship’s engine.”

“We have developed advanced simulator tools just for the purpose of evaluating the safety of an autonomous navigation system,” Vartdal noted. Such ‘software-in-the-loop’ solutions can test the reliability of the machine learning underpinning a navigation system in a variety of scenarios.

Research projects

DNV GL has been closely involved in several development projects, including a research project into the remote operation of machinery and automation systems (ROMAS).

With involvement in projects into semi-autonomous and autonomous projects as diverse as MacGregor’s autodocking solution and self-unloading cranes, Bjørn-Johan Vartdal offered a similarly realistic appraisal of autonomous shipping’s prospects.

The potential advantages of automating some functions has already been demonstrated. “We’ve already proven that the reliability and safety of operating machinery can be improved by moving part of the engine control ashore,” Vartdal said, citing the ROMAS project results.

However, full autonomy remained a distant prospect. “I don’t think that we will see anything revolutionary in this area very soon. To develop these technologies will require focus and time,” Vartdal concluded.

The pace of research shows no sign of relenting. Since June, DNV GL has been involved in the new Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) research centre into safe autonomous shipping, as well as a logistics project to use short-hop autonomous drones for goods distribution.

The new NTNU centre was planning to focus on how to guarantee safety and security in the use of autonomous vessels, alongside new business models and innovations in enabling technologies.

Interestingly, the NTNU research project includes a focus on both deep-sea autonomous shipping and short-sea projects, with separate projects focusing on remote engine room operation, autonomous docking and autonomous crane operations, for instance.

Sterri agreed that an iterative approach was likely, with fully autonomous vessels unlikely to enter service for quite some time, and semi-autonomous or product-level services likely to continue to enter the market first.

Source: motorship

Last week, the Rolls-Royce led Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA) project presented its first findings at a conference in Helsinki, expressing high hopes for vessel automation in commercial service – and predicting that it will arrive soon.

“Autonomous shipping is the future of the maritime industry. As disruptive as the smart phone, the smart ship will revolutionise the landscape of ship design and operations.” said Mikael Makinen, president of Rolls-Royce’s marine division. The firm envisions a future in which new entrants could capture a significant share of business, in the same way as Uber, Spotify and Airbnb have done in other industries.

The AAWA initiative’s researchers suggested that engineering hurdles would not be a major obstacle. “The technologies needed to make remote and autonomous ships a reality exist – the sensor technology needed is sound and commercially available and the algorithms needed for robust decision support systems – the vessel’s ‘virtual captain’ – are not far away. The challenge is to find the optimum way to combine them cost effectively in a marine environment,” said Jonne Poikonen, senior research fellow at the University of Turku and a leader of the project’s technology research.

The consortium will soon begin testing of a sensor package mounted on the Finferries passenger vessel Stella, which operates on protected waters of the Archipelago Sea between Korpo and Houtskär. Dry bulk firm ESL Shipping Limited has also joined to help explore the use of autonomous ships for short sea shipping.

The double-ended ferry Stella (courtesy Finferries / Rolls-Royce)

Rolls-Royce researchers also plan a series of studies on safety and on cybersecurity, which will be used to make recommendations to the IMO and to class societies for rules specific to autonomous ships.

“This is happening. It’s not if, it’s when. This work supports the development of remote controlled and autonomous vessels and will enable proof of concept demonstration following the completion of the project. We will see a remote controlled ship in commercial use by the end of the decade,” said Oskar Levander, VP of innovation at Rolls-Royce Marine.

Source: maritime-executive

Sep 14, 2020 (CDN Newswire via Comtex) — Global Autonomous Ships Market 2020 by Manufacturers, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025 is currently an appended report by MarketsandResearch.biz which exhibits detailed information and an overview of the key influential factors related to the market. The report contains the major aspects related to market growth, development plan, and focuses on significant tactics. The report shows the competitive standing of leading manufacturers in the projection timeline while incorporating their diverse portfolio and regional expansion endeavors. The research has studied the key terms of the global Autonomous Ships market including manufacturing stats, regional analysis, productivity structure, major types, and various end users applicable in the market.

A computer-generated image of the new Mayflower vessel.

University of Birmingham’s Human Interface Technologies Team (HIT)

Onboard experiments

The ship’s main hull being transported to a wharf in Plymouth for final assembly.

IBM

Journey time

Covid-19 disruptions on manned research vessels

The future of autonomous shipping

The British Ports Association (BPA) has opened a call for evidence from the wider maritime community on what ports should consider to prepare for receiving autonomous ships in the future.

This is part of its new initiative looking at the implications of autonomous shipping for UK ports. The call for evidence will feed into the BPA’s own MASS analysis as well as its discussion with industry partners through bodies such as the industry umbrella group Maritime UK. As part of the initiative, the BPA is also creating a new Autonomous Shipping in Ports Network.

Richard Ballantyne, chief executive of the BPA, said: “The prospect of seeing autonomous ships in UK ports is definitely on the horizon but there will be much to do to prepare ourselves. This includes the consideration for port and marine operations, regulatory frameworks, infrastructure and receptions facilities, land to vessel communications and vessel safety.

“Although we are at the early stages, a lot of work is taking place across the maritime community. Many UK ports are now starting to ask what they should be considering as they develop their ports and recruit the next generation.

“This will be an ongoing initiative for the BPA but initially we are inviting evidence from a cross section of maritime sector organisations. This will be in relation to issues that they see specific in to ports and harbours moving forward into autonomous maritime operations. It will also help us to support and participate in various government initiatives in the UK such as Maritime 2050, the work of the Maritime Skills Commission and other innovation, sustainability and infrastructure projects.”

The BPA’s new Network will be open to all its port members, but it will also be drawing on external expertise from specialists working in the marine and MASS sectors.

The BPA will accept submissions to the call for evidence until 12 October.

Source: portstrategy

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, autonomous shipping could reduce contact in freightage, minimising the likelihood of contagion. Autonomous ships can also reduce human error, decrease crewing costs, increase the safety of aquatic life, and increase fuel efficiency. According to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), maritime vessels constitute 90% of all international trade, therefore autonomous innovation in shipping could revolutionise the sustainability and efficiency of the trade sector.

Globally, there are approximately 3,000 marine collisions each year, costing companies upwards of $20bn. Studies show that three quarters of collisions are due to human error – which current collision avoidance methods are not compensating for. With the introduction of autonomous shipping technologies, collisions will be dramatically reduced and potentially eliminated entirely.

Avoiding collisions with AI and machine learning

Machine learning avoidance systems can collect data based on position, speed, and route to suitably assess the risk of collision. Tel Aviv-based Orca AI is developing a collision avoidance system that is currently being piloted by several shipping companies. The technology combines Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data collection to create an awareness system that predicts hazards, alerting operators of impending collisions.

Another collision avoidance tool is being developed by Fujitsu Laboratories. In collaboration with the Japanese Coast Guard, Fujitsu are testing AI-based technologies to calculate the risk of collision and near-misses from traffic control rooms. “Using risk values calculated by Fujitsu’s technologies, operators can proactively detect vessels at risk and prioritise them. This will help in preventive planning while offering accurate information to vessels,” says Hiraku Fujimoto, manager of systems division IV, social systems unit at Fujitsu Limited.

Reducing fuel consumption with autonomy

Another method of using AI and machine learning techniques allows innovators to predict sea conditions, allowing ship captains to alter their fuel consumption. Scientists from Shell and the University of Southampton have trialled a new digital dashboard that predicts sea conditions whilst also interpreting the depth and angles of a ship to optimise the amount of fuel needed in any situation.

Whilst studying for her PhD, Amy Parkes from the University of Southampton developed this new modelling technique. She said: “Shell collects an enormous amount of data from these vessels and this app is designed to monitor and adapt to these variables to save power without changing the ship’s overall speed.”

Source: innovationnewsnetwork