Rolls Royce is to collaborate with a Japanese transport company to develop an intelligent awareness system for ships. The 165-metre passenger ferry Sunflower will serve as a test bed.
Rolls Royce (RR) intelligent awareness systems are designed to make operating on ships safer, easier and more efficient. Using data from various sensors, the environment of a ship is imaged so that the crew is continuously aware of it. The data collected is based on information from existing ship systems, such as the Automatic Indentification System (AIS) and radars. Data from other sources, such as global databases, will also play a role.
The future of autonomous boating
'We are exploring and testing how to combine sensor technologies effectively and affordably,' said Asbjørn Skaro, Director Digital & Systems - Marine at RR. 'Pilot projects like this allow us to see how best to adapt on-board technology to the needs of mariners and their crew. Successful pilots and product development programmes are also an important step towards the further development of autonomous ships. Our goal is to have a remote-controlled ship in commercial use by the end of this decade.'
Kenta Arai, the director of the Japanese company Rolls Royce is partnering with, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, said: 'The ferry Sunflower operates in the most crowded waters in the world and will give us the chance to test Rolls Royce's intelligent awareness system extensively. We expect it will also give our crews a more informed view of the ship's environment in an accessible and user-friendly way. This will give our crews additional support in decisions that need to be made, enhancing their safety and that of the ships.'
The system can build on a lot of Roll's Royce's R&D experience worldwide. For instance, the company has been working on a similar project since June 2015: the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative (AAWA). For this project, several tests of the sensor arrays in a range of operating and climatic conditions have already been done on a ferry sailing on the south coast of Finland.
By: Kelly Bakker
Source: Rolls Royce Marine
