Regulatory framework analysis for the unmanned inland waterway vessel

Several research and innovation initiatives have been pursued worldwide for the development of autonomous and unmanned ships. However, these ships’ wider adoption is limited by the existing regulatory framework, which presently does not provide clear guidelines and requirements for the design and operation of autonomous ships. The aim of this study is to comprehensively analyse the existing maritime safety and security regulatory framework including the national and international regulations for designing, building, testing and operating the unmanned next-generation inland waterways (IWW) vessel considered in the AUTOSHIP project operating in the Flemish inland waters. This study initiates with the identification of the regulatory bodies controlling the operation and testing of the investigated vessel and then identifies barriers in regulations where amendments or new developments are required. Subsequently, a strategy for overcoming these barriers is proposed. The main regulatory gaps that are identified include the requirements for navigation, emergency and environment protection functions, where new definitions are required for unmanned ship operations (e.g. master, crew, remote control centre). Moreover, some of the regulations explicitly specify the existence of crew on the ships for navigation, emergency and environment protection functions. A three-phase strategy is proposed to overcome the current regulatory barriers.publishedVersio

Modeling and Simulation of Anchor Handling Vessels

The topic of this thesis is modeling and simulation of anchor handling vessels. Computer simulations of anchor handling vessels can be used to evaluate the forces acting on them, and to gain valuable insight into their operational limitations. Introductorily, an overview containing important aspects of anchor handling operations is presented. The objective is to highlight important subjects that must be considered before a simulator is developed. A simulator of an anchor handling vessel is successfully implemented in Matlab and Simulink. The simulator contains modules for ballast tanks, anti-roll tanks, cables, seabed and anchor interaction, winch systems and guide pins. The vessel model is matched up against a real anchor handling vessel to give realistic thrust characteristics. The simulator is capable of simulating both anchor deployment and anchor recovery operations in real time. Catenary equations are used to model cables. A quasi-static polynomial approach with look-up tables is used for implementation. The method allows the use of different catenary models to simulate different phases of the anchor handling operation. A catenary model of two cables with a point load, imitating the effect of an anchor, is developed based on existing catenary models in the literature. The simulator is verified through simulations. A set of case studies is used to evaluate the vessel performance during anchor deployment and recovery. The case studies consider operation in ideal and rough weather conditions, and it is shown how equipment failures and poor vessel configuration can lead to decreased vessel stability and loss of maneuvering capabilities

Smartere transport – Møre og Romsdal: L2.2 Valg av autonomitetsgrad for fartøykonsept

Denne rapporten er utarbeidet på oppdrag for Møre og Romsdal fylkeskommune som del av prosjektet Smartere Transport – Møre og Romsdal. Basert på en overordnet State-of-the-Art innen autonom sjøverts passasjertransport presenterer rapporten en anbefalt løsning med tanke på grad av autonomi for prosjektets to brukercase. Dette gjøres både i forhold til hva som er realistisk med utgangspunkt i dagens teknologiske løsninger, men også hva som ansees som realistisk frem mot 2030. Ulike gap som må lukkes for at de skisserte løsningene skal kunne realiseres presenteres også. Da i forhold til navigasjon og manøvrering, samt løsninger direkte knyttet til sikkerhetskritiske hendelser. Rapporten bidrar også med innspill til hvordan funksjoner ombord tradisjonelle skip kan tenkes fordelt mellom menneske og automasjon på autonome skip og på kontrollsenter. I tillegg belyses viktige føringer for løsningen sett fra brukerperspektivet. Disse føringene er basert på en tidligere utført brukerundersøkelse i regi av prosjektet.Møre og Romsdal fylkeskommunepublishedVersio

A method to identify and rank objects and hazardous interactions affecting autonomous ships navigation

The Autonomous Navigation System (ANS) constitutes a critical key enabling technology required for operating Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). To assure the safety of MASS operations, the effective identification of potential objects and target ships interacting with the own MASS is quintessential. This study proposes a systematic method to identify the items interacting with the own MASS. This method is based on a similar approach previously employed for the encountering items’ identification in robotics, which is customised herein for the MASS needs. The developed method is applied to a short-sea shipping MASS. The environmental features, agents and objects related to her navigation are identified and ranked based on the frequency of encounter and the potential collision consequences. The results demonstrate the ability of the method to identify additional items in comparison to Automatic Identification System based data. The interactions with the small ships are considered as the most critical, due to their potential accidental consequences and their exhibited high frequency of encounter. This study results are employed to support the ANS design and testing of the investigated ship

A method to identify and rank objects and hazardous interactions affecting autonomous ships navigation

The Autonomous Navigation System (ANS) constitutes a critical key enabling technology required for operating Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). To assure the safety of MASS operations, the effective identification of potential objects and target ships interacting with the own MASS is quintessential. This study proposes a systematic method to identify the items interacting with the own MASS. This method is based on a similar approach previously employed for the encountering items’ identification in robotics, which is customised herein for the MASS needs. The developed method is applied to a short-sea shipping MASS. The environmental features, agents and objects related to her navigation are identified and ranked based on the frequency of encounter and the potential collision consequences. The results demonstrate the ability of the method to identify additional items in comparison to Automatic Identification System based data. The interactions with the small ships are considered as the most critical, due to their potential accidental consequences and their exhibited high frequency of encounter. This study results are employed to support the ANS design and testing of the investigated ship.publishedVersio

SIMPACT - SIMulation based ship concept imPACT evaluation tool

This report contains the user manual for the SIMPACT tool (SIMulation based ship concept imPACT evaluation tool) for evaluation of novel ship concepts. The tool consists of two sub tools. The logistics analysis tool (LA tool), and the MASS analysis tool (MA tool) for cost and emission analysis. SIMPACT can be used to make an initial design of a waterborne transport system and to evaluate the logistical performance through a set of KPIs. Furthermore, SIMPACT can estimate energy consumption for ships operating in the transport system, transported cargo volumes, emissions, and costs.publishedVersio

Levels of autonomy for ships

This paper gives a summary of previously published papers on the definition of autonomy for ships, how this relates to different crewing regimes, and the terminology to be used. A conclusion is that autonomy should be retained as a descriptive term, but that we should distinguish between "full autonomy" and "constrained autonomy", where the latter is the more relevant term for ships today. The proposed classification of autonomy is related to both degree of automation and degree of human control and will be presented as a matrix with generic classes of autonomy. This matrix is also transformed to a set of more practically useful levels of autonomy based on likely organization of crew on land or on the ship. The paper has mainly been written based on our work with maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) but is also applicable to other types of surface vessels, e.g. inland waterway vessels

Smartere transport Møre og Romsdal – L4.3 Sikkerhetskrav til et autonomt, sjøverts persontransportsystem

Denne rapporten er utarbeidet på oppdrag for Møre og Romsdal fylkeskommune som del av prosjektet Smartere Transport – Møre og Romsdal. Alle systemer som inngår i et autonomt sjøverts persontransportsystem i bynære områder må innfri gjeldende sikkerhetskrav, og denne rapporten gir en oversikt over de ulike regelverk og krav som mulighetsstudiet må forholde seg til ved utvikling av brukercasene. Dette gjelder fartøyskonseptet som helhet, løsninger knyttet til landbasert kontrollrom, men også ulike krav og føringer for dokking, ombordstigning og evakuering. En av rapportens viktigste bidrag er identifikasjon av sammenhengen mellom kravene som stilles for ulike designparametere og de ulike grenseverdiene som de respektive forskriftene refererer til, og resultatet av arbeidet skal brukes som grunnlag for videre arbeid i prosjektets definerte arbeidspakker.Møre og Romsdal fylkeskommunepublishedVersio

Levels of autonomy for ships

Ørnulf Jan Rødseth et al 2022 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2311 012018This paper gives a summary of previously published papers on the definition of autonomy for ships, how this relates to different crewing regimes, and the terminology to be used. A conclusion is that autonomy should be retained as a descriptive term, but that we should distinguish between "full autonomy" and "constrained autonomy", where the latter is the more relevant term for ships today. The proposed classification of autonomy is related to both degree of automation and degree of human control and will be presented as a matrix with generic classes of autonomy. This matrix is also transformed to a set of more practically useful levels of autonomy based on likely organization of crew on land or on the ship. The paper has mainly been written based on our work with maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) but is also applicable to other types of surface vessels, e.g. inland waterway vessels.publishedVersio