UKHO provides S-100 data to Mayflower AS

The UK Hydrographic Office has provided S-100 navigation data that is currently being tested on the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS), the first unmanned or autonomous marine vessel to use the data.

S-100 will be the base standard for hydrographic data from which applications and uses can be defined; a framework intended to enhance the way data are created, chared and used.

Under the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) project, testing is being carried out at sea to see if the ship can read, integrate and use S-100 data before it departs for the US coast.

The voyage is two years behind its 2020 date, which would have marked the 400th anniversary of when the original Mayflower set sail from Plymouth with its band of pilgrims, because of ‘a minor mechanical issue’, according to ProMare, the marine research organisation behind the project. Three days into the voyage, the MAS had to return.

In September 2021 it was relaunched, and now preparations are under way to set it on course for Massachusetts, a journey which is estimated to take about three weeks.

The 15m trimaran will use solar power to keep it going, with a diesel generator to back it up, and will be navigated with articifical intelligence using its six cameras and 50 sensors. The boat is made of aluminium composite.

”MAS provides a flexible and cost-effective platform for deepening understanding of critical issues such as climate change, ocean plastic pollution and marine mammal conservation,” says ProMare. ”In parallel, the development of marine autonomous systems promises to transform ocean-related industries such as shipping, oil and gas, telecommunications, security and defence, fishing & aquaculture.”