scholarly journals Concept Design of an Unmanned Surface Vessel for Offshore Cargo Delivery

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Nair ◽  
A Pillai
Keyword(s):  
Concept Design ◽  
Adoption Of Technology ◽  
Cargo Handling ◽  
Marine Industry ◽  
Operations And Maintenance ◽  
Automation And Control ◽  
Unmanned Surface Vessel ◽  
Autonomous Ship ◽  
And Control ◽  
Surface Vessel

A technological push for the adoption of unmanned surface vessels is afoot in the marine industry, keeping abreast with the developments in the land and aviation transportation sector. The adoption of technology has the potential to improve efficiency and safety of operations, to transfer onshore human activity relating to vessel control and to make working conditions for ‘crew’ more appealing. Houlder Ltd, with its entrenched vessel and equipment design competencies serving the marine, offshore and defense sectors, has designed the concept of an unmanned surface vessel for offshore operations and maintenance. The project has been undertaken jointly with automation and control and marine logistics experts in the U.K. This paper presents the Houlder unmanned surface vessel concept design, delivering units of cargo to an offshore windfarm monopile platform. The project has been devised as part of the (Windfarm Autonomous Ship) project supported by Innovate UK and other project partners. Decoupling onboard human intervention from vessel operation has prompted rethinking on the vessel layout and re-examination of the suitability of current regulations. The design considerations have revised the spatial requirements and machinery systems for the unmanned and intended function. Further, the design has incorporated an innovative cargo handling.

scholarly journals Design of an Innovative Autonomous Vessel to Support Windfarm O&M

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhil Nair ◽  
Arun Pillai ◽  
David Pugh ◽  
Luiz Demenicis ◽  
Marta Wiecka
Keyword(s):  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Offshore Wind ◽  
Offshore Wind Turbine ◽  
Concept Design ◽  
Cost Performance ◽  
Cargo Handling ◽  
Operations And Maintenance ◽  
Autonomous Ship ◽  
Autonomous Vessel

Wind Farm Operations and Maintenance has challenges in delivering cargo safely and efficiently and with manning in high sea states. Wind farms farther offshore further increases pressures on vessel design, technicians, safety and costs. Working within the ambit of ‘Innovate UK’ funded Wind Farm Autonomous Ship Project, Houlder Ltd have been developing the concept design of a Wind Farm Support Vessel that can operate autonomously during transit and while delivering cargo to offshore wind turbine. The aspired degree of automation is that for the vessel to be remotely operated from ashore. Vessel functions have been identified, working in conjunction with industry and project partners, who are developing vessel control and advanced autonomy, on-board health diagnostics, decision support logistics algorithms, data flow and logistics management, and cost performance analysis, as part of the project. The Concept is expected to reduce operating costs, especially fuel and crew related, while improving safety of operations. This paper will focus on the re-think, re-design and refining of vessel design that the autonomous vessel concept has accorded. The discussion will follow through the design spiral for features of spaces, stability and machinery systems, besides the innovation and integration of autonomous cargo handling solution for the wind farm O&M.

scholarly journals Multichannel adaptive deployment and reliable communication design for unmanned surface vessel

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 172988141989158
Author(s):  
Qiyu Yin ◽  
Yuezu Lv
Keyword(s):  
Data Transmission ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Reliable Data ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Reliable Communication ◽  
Sea Trial ◽  
Switching Model ◽  
Unmanned Surface Vessel ◽  
And Control ◽  
Surface Vessel

For the unmanned surface vessel in performing military missions, the safety and controllability are two basic requirements, which need reachable communication channel and reliable data transmission. This article proposes an adaptive switching model with multichannel resource and the unmanned surface vessel shore-to-sea data intercommunication design method. The scheme adopts various mechanisms such as data space, standardized encapsulation, numbering and verification, and active/passive retransmission, which can ensure reliable data transmission and provide reliable communication information for unmanned surface vessel during autonomous mission. A sea trial is also carried out on the unmanned surface vessel control system based on the design scheme. Data analysis shows that the system can successfully realize communication switching and continuous data transformation, which is consistent with design expectation, and guarantees the continuous monitoring and control of unmanned surface vessel by shore-based control station.

scholarly journals The Ocean-Going Autonomous Ship—Challenges and Threats

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Felski ◽  
Karolina Zwolak
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
System Reliability ◽  
Unmanned Vehicles ◽  
English Channel ◽  
Intentional Actions ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Unmanned Surface Vessel ◽  
Autonomous Ship ◽  
Surface Vessel

Unmanned vehicles have become a part of everyday life, not only in the air, but also at sea. In the case of sea, until now this usually meant small platforms operating near shores, usually for surveying or research purposes. However, experiments with larger cargo vessels, designed to operate on the high seas are already being carried out. In this context, there are questions about the threats that this solution may pose for other sea users, as well as the safety of the unmanned vehicle itself and the cargo or equipment on board. The problems can be considered in the context of system reliability as well as the resilience to interference or other intentional actions directed against these objects—for example, of a criminal nature. The paper describes the dangers that arise from the specificity of systems that can be used to solve navigational problems, as well as the analysis of the first experiences of the authors arising from the transit of an unmanned surface vessel (USV) from the United Kingdom to Belgium and back, crossing the busiest world shipping route—the English Channel.

scholarly journals Unmanned Surface Vessel Steering L2 Gain Robust Control Based on Closed-Loop Shaping Filter

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1018-1027
Author(s):  
Wei Guan ◽  
Jinghai Sun ◽  
Xiang Li ◽  
Zhihao Ren
Keyword(s):  
Robust Control ◽  
Control Strategy ◽  
Closed Loop ◽  
Controller Design ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
Loop Shaping ◽  
Unmanned Surface Vessel ◽  
And Control ◽  
Surface Vessel

With the introduction of the closed-loop shaping filtering method into the L2 gain robust controller design strategy, a nonlinear robust steering controller for unmanned surface vessel is designed under the planning and control strategy in this paper. The rigorous mathematical analysis and synthesis characteristics of the L2 gain robust control theory and the Lyapunov design method are fully utilized in the controller design process. Furthermore, the concept of the closed-loop shaping filtering based on the classical closed-loop control theory is taken into the controller design strategy. Therefore, the time domain controller design methods integration with the frequency domain controller design strategy are merged togehter to complete the unmanned surface vessel steering controller design in the view of practical engineering and planning and control strategy. Finally, compared with several practical controller design methods in the multi-direction irregular waves, the simulation results show that the proposed steering controller design strategy has concise structure, distinctive physic meanings of the controller parameters and superior comprehensive control performance.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document