Samsung Heavy Industries announced that it has succeeded in remotely and autonomously operating a 38 meters ship, weighing 300 tons, near the Geoje Shipyard.
The operation was conducted by installing the SAS (Samsung Autonomous Ship). SAS analyzes signals from navigational communication equipment such as Radar, GPS, and AIS installed on the ship in real time to recognize nearby ships and obstacles. It then evaluates the risk of collision considering the ship’s operation characteristics. It also finds the optimal route, and the ship can safely navigate to its destination by automatically controlling the propulsion and steering system.
In addition, through a 360-degree view and LTE/5G mobile communication technology, it is possible to remotely control the ship while viewing an image as if looking down at the ship directly from the sky at a remote land control center.
In the test operation, the Samsung T-8 returned safely to its destination about 10km away without the intervention of the crew.
In particular, it showed a collision avoidance technology that avoids other ships or obstacles that appear within a radius of 1km during operation.
In addition, at the land control center located in Daejeon, the operation status of the ship was monitored in real time with images combined with augmented reality (AR) technology through a large screen.
Shim Yong-rae, head of Samsung Heavy Industries’ shipbuilding and maritime research institute,stated:
SAS is a safe navigation solution that reduces the burden of crew members by autonomously searching and operating the optimized route. We plan to commercialize it in 2022 with a more advanced navigation assistance system
