Japanese shipping company MOL announced its intention to install a navigation system using augmented reality (AR) technology jointly developed by Furuno Electric and MOL Techno-Trade, on 21 MOL-operated very large crude oil carriers (VLCCs).
The system displays information on other vessels sailing on a vessel’s planned route and surrounding sea areas and other ocean conditions, such as shallow waters, on tablets and screens.
It also integrates information from the AIS and radar with real-time video images from the bridge camera in collaboration with Furuno Electric’s ECDIS.
Namely, the system provides visual support to crew members during their watch-keeping and ship operations by using AR technology to superimposing real-time video imagery and voyage information.
The system has been installed on the 1st MOL’s next-generation FLEXIE Series car carrier, ‘Beluga Ace’, which was delivered in March 2018, and VLCC ‘Suzukasan’, delivered in October 2018 for the demonstration test.
In officially commercializing the system under the Furuno Electric brand, it will be installed on MOL’s VLCC fleet, a vessel type that requires the highest level of operating safety, MOL said.
Due to its deep draft, VLCC operations require special care when navigating on the waters such as the Straits of Singapore and Malacca, a heavily trafficked sea lane that has limited areas. The project partners developed the system to support crew members, alerting them to other vessels they need to watch, the location of shallow waters, and so on, by displaying integrated real-time video images with information from nautical instruments on screens on the bridge even in congested sea lanes,
…the company explained.
MOL plans to sequentially install the system in its energy transport fleet including LNG carriers, as well as its dry bulkers to provide seafarers with greater support in watch-keeping.
In addition, MOL expects this technology to play a key role in realizing autonomous ships in the future.
This comes in line with MOL’s “Ishin Next – MOL Smart Ship Project-,” which began in November 2016, aiming in advanced support of safe operation and reduction of environmental impact.
