The project MUNIN – Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks – is a collaborative research project, co-funded by the European Commissions under its Seventh Framework Programme. MUNIN aims to develop and verify a concept for an autonomous ship, which is defined as a vessel primarily guided by automated on-board decision systems but controlled by a remote operator in a shore side control station.
Maritime transport within the EU faces challenges such as significant increases in transport volumes, growing environmental requirements and a shortage of seafarers in the future. The concept of the autonomous ship brings along the potential to overcome these challenges. It allows for more efficient and competitive ship operation and increases in the environmental performance of vessels. Furthermore the shore based approach offers “seafaring” the possibility to become more socially sustainable by reducing the time seafarers spend away from their families.
Within MUNIN a consortium of eight partners led by Fraunhofer CML with scientific and industrial background will reflect upon operational, technical and legal aspects in connection with the vision of an autonomous ship. Solutions for e.g. an autonomous bridge, an autonomous engine room, a shore side operation center and the communication architecture linking vessel and a shore operator will be developed and verified. Besides this long term goal of an autonomous ship MUNIN’s results will also provide efficiency, safety and sustainability advantages for existing vessels in short term. This includes e.g. environmental optimization, new maintenance and operational concepts as well as improved bridge applications.
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Economic sustainability Slower sailing speeds become economically viable if crew costs can be reduced at the same time. Reduced speeds result in longer voyage times which incur increased charter costs. For manned vessels, crew costs per trip also rise and at some point offset the savings made by the lower consumption of fuel. If staff costs can be reduced by the introduction of unmanned ships this will help to minimize total trip costs by the use of a slower sailing speed. |
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Social sustainability Seagoing professions are increasingly perceived as unattractive these days. Factors such as long and monotonous sea passages, short and busy port stays and lengthy periods away from the social environment at home have caused a shortage of seagoing personnel. The concept of autonomous vessels transfers the demanding and interesting tasks from ship to shore. It means that mariners can control and monitor vessels remotely while ashore and still enjoy their normal social life on land |
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Environmental sustainability Slow steaming is a key factor in making maritime transport more environmentally- friendly. Autonomous vessels sidestep the inherent vicious circle of slow steaming, as the concept enables significant speed reductions without the need for additional crew. Autonomous shipping therefore enhances the attractiveness of slow steaming and the lower fuel consumption results in reduced exhaust emissions, such as carbon dioxide. |
How it works
Autonomy always means more uncertainty in terms of how an operation is performed. This uncertainty needs to be limited to reduce the required complexity of the sensor and control systems.
MUNIN is therefore not designed for an unmanned voyage from berth to berth, but for unmanned deep sea transport, e.g., from pilot point to pilot point. Approaching and berthing is still intended to be done by a conventional crew on board.
This kind of operation requires four new modes: “autonomous operation”, “autonomous problem-solving”, “remote” and “fail-to-safe”. While the latter ensures that damage is avoided even in the case of an emergency, the “remote” option enables mariners ashore to interact with the vessel at all times.
However, in normal operational mode during deep sea transport, the preferred modes are “autonomous operation” and “autonomous problem-solving”, where the ship performs repetitive tasks itself and is only monitored by the mariners ashore.
More information may be found in project’s brochure
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