Towards the unmanned merchant ship:
The MUNIN Project
3rd Workshop on European Unmanned Maritime Systems
Porto, May 30th 2014
Ørnulf Jan RØDSETH, Research Director
MARINTEK Dept. Maritime Transport Systems
OrnulfJan.Rodseth@marintek.sintef.no
http://www.unmanned-ship.org
SCP2-GA-2012-314286
2012-09-01 to 2015-08-31
Content

Introduction to MUNIN

Rationale for unmanned ships

Problems with unmanned ship

Application in other domains

Conclusion and summary
2
Introduction to MUNIN
Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks

Munin ("mind") is one of Odin's two ravens flying out in the morning and
reporting news of the world to their master in the evening.

Hugin ("thought"), the other raven, is
also the name of a commercially successful
autonomous submarine (AUV).

Here, MUNIN is the name of a new
EU project researching the
unmanned, autonomous ship.
3
Partners in MUNIN

Fraunhofer CML (DE) – Research, Coordinator

MARINTEK (NO) – Research

Chalmers (SE) – University

Hochschule Wismar (DE) – University

Aptomar (NO) – Industry

MarineSoft (DE) – Industry

Marorka (IS) – Industry

University College Cork (IE) - University
4
Project details

Duration: 01.09-2012 – 31.08.2015

Funding: 2.9 million EUR

Activity code: SST.2012.5.2-5:
E-guided vessels: the 'autonomous' ship
5
Objectives

Develop and test unmanned ship concepts

Main technical investigations on
 Technical maintenance for high availability
 Navigation support for unmanned bridge
 Remote operations, shore coordination, including VTS/Pilot/SAR
 Energy savings potential

Base case is medium size dry bulk carrier

Verify concept in system of simulators

Examine legal and contractual constraints

CBA and applications in today's shipping as well as other ship types
6
Content

Introduction to MUNIN

Rationale for unmanned ships

Main problems with unmanned ship

Application in other domains

Conclusion and summary
7
WaterBorne TP
8
Autonomous Slow Steaming

Environmentally
 Reduce CO2 emissions with 54%

Economically
 Lower fuel costs (but higher hire)
 Offset increased crew costs due to longer voyage

Societal
 Make crew available for more demanding tasks, closer to home, offset
lack of crew, increase job attractiveness
9
New ship concepts
Source Rolls Royce Holdings
10
New ship concepts
Source Rolls Royce Holdings
11
Content

Introduction to MUNIN

Rationale for unmanned ships

Main problems with unmanned ship

Communication issues

Application in other domains

Conclusion and summary
12
Communication technology and
information transfer

Dependent on trade area and cost one have to expect varying degree of
communication service (bandwidth, latency and reliability)!
AMVER July 2012: www.amver.org
13
Lookout and collission avoidance

Radar and AIS are on board – enhancements are available.

Small object detection radar, IR cameras, low light cameras etc. are
available.
Key challenges are to
integrate sensors and to
classify objects
automatically
14
Manoeuvres in difficult conditions
Less of a problem for
bulk carriers.
15
System robustness

Today ship safety is to some degree based on the ability to repair
equipment during voyage.

Autonomous ships need very high confidence level against critical failures
during sea leg!

High reliability, redundancy and fail-to-safe mechanisms required!
New approaches to
component redundancy as
well as preventive
maintenance are required.
16
Ship-shore coordination

Ship operator needs a central operations centre ashore.

Coordination with other entities when necessary:
 Other (autonomous) ships
 Pilot, VTS …
 General ship reporting (FAL, SOLAS)
 SAR
 …
New operational principles and
procedures are required. Human
factor is a challenge in shore side
remote operations.
17
Legal and contractual issues

Who is in charge of the ship – no master ?

Flag state jurisdiction without master ?

COLREGS ?

Insurance and liability ?

Safety at sea – SAR ?

…
A major challenge: It will
take time before we see the
first fully autonomous ship!
18
Piracy and hostile interference

Reduction of attractiveness
 No crew to ransom
 Cargo cannot easily be moved
 Ship can be tracked

Countermeasures
 Secure communication
 Multi-layer navigation system
 Fail to safe when communication fails
 Protected access to control of ship
19
Address the challenges:
Fit the use cases to the restrictions !
Berth
Departure
Transit
Approach
Berth
Dry bulk ship on intercontinental voyage.
LNG as fuel?
Select:

Long deep-sea-voyage

Low risk cargo

Slow steaming attractiveness

Avoid complications near shore
20
Content

Introduction to MUNIN

Rationale for unmanned ships

Main problems with unmanned ship

Application in other domains

Conclusion and summary
21
Limitations in communication services:
Fallacies of distributed computing assumptions

The network is reliable.

Latency is zero.

Bandwidth is infinite.

The network is secure.

Topology doesn't change.

There is one administrator.

Transport cost is zero.

The network is homogeneous.
We need better methods to integrate
QoS of communication in distributed
systems design.
L. Peter Deutsch, SUN Microsystems
22
The right level of autonomy
Degree of autonomy
Intelligent
Onboard route planning
Autonomous
Automatic
Fail to safe
Remote control
Collision avoidance
Route keeping
Emergency stop
Shore side operation centre
Degree of uncertainty
23
Need a good method for responsibility
sharing between AS and human control
24
Organisation of a Remote Control
Centre
General case (Assumptions)
1 SCC per 100 vessels
1 operator per 6 vessels
1 supervisor per 30 vessels (5 operators)
1 relieve operator (with workstation for 6 ships) per 30 ships
1 situation room per 30 vessels
1 engineer per 30 vessels
1 captain per 30 ships
25
Manage risk
Fail to safe

Define manageable use cases

Remove complexity

Simplify operations

Provide redundancy

Quantify risks

Verify assumptions

…
SCC: Initiate recovery
26
Content

Introduction to MUNIN

Rationale for unmanned ships

Main problems with unmanned ship

Application in other domains

Conclusion and summary
27
Is the autonomous ship possible?

Technology is mostly available: Need to be integrated and improved

Integration in maritime transport system is a challenge: Shore, other
ships, SAR

Legal issues and liability clearly a potential show stopper today
28
What can be transferred to other
industry ?

General methods for design of industrial autonomous systems
 Effects of communication QoS, better models of wireless QoS
 Share of responsibilities between autonomous system and remote
control: Level of autonomy?
 Design of remote control centres
 Risk reduction strategies
29
… and afterwards to full scale tests!
Thank you for your attention!
30