Work Package 2 – Autonomy

The overall objective of Work Package 2 – Autonomy is be able to demonstrate autonomy up to unmanned operation on a Danish vessel. The work package will achieve this objective by developing novel methods and algorithms for autonomous vessels where this is needed, and integrate with existing technology for navigation, steering, manoeuvring and berthing where this is possible. The detailed objectives include:

• Demonstrate one-man operation of a ferry with temporally unattended bridge
• Demonstrate decision support as ad-on retrofit for vessel to enhance safety against grounding and collisions
• Demonstrate unmanned operation of harbour bus with built in safety in form of autonomous supervision that can enable shore assistance and remote manoeuvring control if needed. An open system architecture and interface standard will be defined, that will make vendors able to supply equipment and deliver services and enable modular validation and approval of modules for autonomous vessels in the future. Focus of the WP will be twofold. One case will be retrofit of existing vessels with ad-on autonomy functionality. Benefits include temporally unmanned bridge and enhanced safety against grounding and collisions. Two other cases will focus on new-built electric ferries, where one-man operation shall be possible for a larger vessel, another will be a harbour bus with unmanned operation. Technology developed by innovative research in this work package aims specifically on enhancing the competitive edge of maritime suppliers located in Denmark.