SAFEMATE project launched at Nor-Shipping
As automation in shipping grows, a project is launched to assess its safety and efficiency.
A project has been launched by a group of to assess and the safety of autonomous navigation systems in shipping with a pilot to be deployed on an operational ferry in Norway.
Classification firm DNV, Kongsberg Maritime and its subsidiary Kongsberg Seatex, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and ferry firm Bastø Fosen launched the SAFEMATE project at the Nor-Shipping trade fair in Oslo on April 5.
Automation is a fast-growing feature of shipping technology, and the group says that while such systems need to be developed, ’tools and processes that assess and assure their safe function must be in place’.
The SAFEMATE project will focus on routing and collision avoidance, to create a system that can detect threats and obstacles in the marine environment, interpret the information and communicate a solution to an on-board operator.
The system will be tested though the use of simulators and with human operators in the loop and then will be deployed in full-scale trials on the Bastø VI, the Bastø Fosen ferry which operates between Moss and Horten.
“Modern vessels are already complex automated systems, but building in autonomous decision support capability, increases this complexity immensely,” said DNV group research and development director Pierre Sames. ”This is why it’s vital to develop a framework comprising processes and tools that can assess the safety performance of these systems both in the design stage and throughout operations. As these systems include machine learning modules, they require a new approach to safety assessment and verification.”
