13/12/2017

Autonomous navigation research UK

Elecnor Deimos, through its subsidiary Deimos Space UK, will investigate ways to exploit satellite technology in the rapidly developing autonomous navigation sector

Elecnor Deimos collaborates in Autonomous Navigation research in the UK

Elecnor Deimos, through its subsidiary Deimos Space UK, will investigate ways to exploit satellite technology in the rapidly developing autonomous navigation sector

13th of December, 2017

Deimos Space UK, the British subsidiary of Elecnor Deimos, will collaborate with BMT and ASV Global in SWANS (Shared Waterspace Autonomous Navigation by Satellite), a research project aimed at addressing the challenge of how traditional manned vessels can co-exist with autonomous systems in shared water space. The £1.2million project is funded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and will be led by BMT.

The SWANS project will, for the first time, enable beyond line of sight, over the horizon, autonomous behaviour by unmanned surface vessels in areas of congested maritime traffic. The role of Deimos Space UK is to investigate how the exploitation of existing and future satellite capabilities can contribute to this objective, including:

  • Vessel tracking using terrestrial and satellite AIS for better situational awareness
  • GPS+Galileo GNSS for improved positional accuracy for Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV)
  • GNSS reflectometry for wave height and local wind speed measurement
  • Information derived from meteorological satellites at the ocean-atmosphere interface
  • Oceanographic products provided by Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service

Michael Lawrence, Business Development Director at Deimos Space UK says: “Deimos Space UK is delighted to be collaborating with BMT and ASV Global in this innovative project to exploit satellite technology in the rapidly developing autonomous navigation sector”.

Phil Thompson, Managing Director at BMT comments: “Currently, autonomous vessels largely use AIS as a collision avoidance tool but remain at risk of colliding with vessels or objects not using AIS. Others rely upon waterspace management and the actions of other water users to avoid collisions – neither of which go far enough in reducing the risk of a collision occurring. This funding is critical in helping us to overcome this barrier by developing the first ever commercially ready, safe over the horizon operating system for congested waterspaces”.

Vince Dobbin, Sales and Marketing Director at ASV Global adds: “We’re delighted to be continuing our long-standing working relationship with BMT. This project has the potential to open up a multitude of applications for the operation of ASVs in busy waterspaces. It is a follow on from the over the horizon operations we have already carried out with our fleet of ASVs using our advance autonomous navigation system”.

The project team will focus on four main objectives including: exploiting satellite sensing technology, leveraging the expertise of Elecnor Deimos in the field, and enabling the delivery of a higher fidelity world model for vessel operators/supervisors; simulating new scenarios for ASV operations; combining, for the first time, ASV Global’s autonomous vessel control simulator and BMT’s REMBRANDT ship manoeuvring simulator into a single suite capable of visualising different datasets in 3D and to evaluate new multi-vessel conflict scenarios in the real-world.

Phil Thompson continues: “Bringing best in class expertise together, we will produce the necessary tools to facilitate both improved over the horizon navigation for ASVs, as well as pilot training on how to interact and manage ASVs in congested waterways. Only by bridging this knowledge gap can we accelerate the wider adoption of unmanned systems and increase trust in their feasibility by mariners around the world”.

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