Sea Machines Robotics will upgrade one of its survey vessels with an autonomous control system. The system enables remote command of the vessel, including navigation and positioning, the control of on board auxiliaries and sensors, and ship-to-shore data flow.
The vessel, operating in multiple areas of the Wadden Sea, will be commanded by personnel in the Amsterdam office.
The technology aims to enhance the value of vessel operations by:
- Shifting full-mission vessel control effort from manual to autonomy system;
- Enabling personnel to focus less on recurring and repetitive tasks, and more on value advantages;
- Reshaping the conventional 1:1 relationship between a survey crew and vessel;
- Dynamically interfacing navigational control with survey software;
- Improving vessel tracking precision over planned lines;
- Enhancing project planning with predicted on-water mission characteristics.
This system can be installed on new or existing vessels, allowing a fleet manager to leverage the technology without requiring added expense and time consumed by purchasing a new vessel.
Surveyors can remotely monitor and command multiple autonomous vessels from a shipboard or shore-based center located anywhere with network connectivity.
This remote capability increases operational health and safety by reducing or removing high-risk activities generally associated with crew working aboard small survey craft in dynamic marine environments.
Sea Machines’ Michael G. Johnson, CEO, stated:
Hydrographic survey is an exemplary use case for our autonomous-command and remote-helm control technologies. With Sea Machines installed on board, Deep will benefit from obtaining higher-quality data, more safely and at a more efficient rate with less data overlap
