Ørnulf Jan Rødseth

ITS Norway · Maritime ITS

This report defines an ICT architecture for the onboard computer-based systems on a ship. It gives an overview of the protocol standards and data models that are commonly in use on ships. The emphasis is on system connectivity and the ability to get information from the different systems and how to transfer information between ship and shore cyber...

Automatic controllers work best when the system they control can be sufficiently well modelled. This is a problem for control of autonomous ships in mixed traffic situations where the autonomous ship interacts with conventional ships, as the crew on other ships can and will exert unexpected behaviour that cannot be easily modelled. This paper analy...

The AUTOSHIP project has developed a roadmap to large scale intercontinental autonomous shipping that proposes technical development stages, realisation development steps, and constraining factors for the uptake in the industry.

It is often assumed that the driving force behind autonomous ship discussions is reduction in crew cost or societal concerns like improved maritime safety due to reduction in human errors, better working conditions for crew in land-based control centers, or sustainability goals achieved through higher efficiency and lower emissions. But in assessin...

Autonomous shipping operations are becoming economically and technically feasible, but this development also requires new human roles and responsibilities onshore for managing cyber events. The goal of this paper is to present a methodology for describing autonomous shipping operations and risks caused by potential cyber-attacks, focusing on critic...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being promoted as an important contributor to ensuring the safety of autonomous ships. However, utilizing AI technologies to enhance safety may be problematic. For instance, AI is only capable of performing well in situations that it has been trained on, or otherwise programmed to handle. Quantifying the true perform...

This paper gives a summary of previously published papers on the definition of autonomy for ships, how this relates to different crewing regimes, and the terminology to be used. A conclusion is that autonomy should be retained as a descriptive term, but that we should distinguish between “full autonomy” and “constrained autonomy”, where the latter...

The complex picture of maritime transport involving more than 100 thousand ships, more than 8000 ports and a large number of stakeholders fulfilling different roles and being responsible for different processes means that providing up-to-date and timely information during port calls is a complex task. In addition, there are requirements to reduce b...

This paper proposes a common ICT reference architecture to overcome current application or geographic "silos" in digital maritime communication. The architecture is called reference architecture since it only specifies the generic case. If desired, it can be developed into a more concrete architecture, e.g. on national or port level. The different...

The objective of this paper is to document experiences of hazard-analysis and risk analysis of automated passenger ferries planned to be operated in sheltered waters in Norway. The operation of autonomous ferries in Norway requires permission from the Norwegian Maritime Authority. This paper aims to describe hazard and risk analyses that address th...

The concept of autonomous or uncrewed ships is not new. Japan investigated remote control of ships in the “Highly reliable intelligent ship” project from 1982 to 1988 (Hasegawa 2004). The rocket launching platform L/P Odyssey, classified as a mobile offshore unit (MOU), was remotely controlled during the launch phase. Thus, it operated as a de fact...

Automated transport systems are deployed in many areas and transport modes. The predominant engineering perspective has been to automate as much as possible and minimize human interaction. However, a balanced integration between human factors and technology is often missing, as well as the “hand-over” process between humans and machine. The risks o...

Effectively addressing safety, security and cyber-security challenges is quintessential for progressing the development of next generation maritime autonomous shipping. This study aims at developing a novel hybrid, semi-structured process for the hazardous scenarios identification and ranking. This method integrates the operational and functional h...

This paper presents the results from two research projects, both related to maritime information exchange, namely Maritime Data Space (MDS) and Cyber Security in Merchant Shipping (CySiMS). The MDS, as a blueprint of the International Data Spaces Association Architecture (IDSA), provides an ecosystem where data and information can be transferred ef...

Humans are increasingly asked to interact with automation in complex and large-scale systems. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has started working on regulations for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). For the foreseeable future, unmanned ships will most likely be under supervision from a Remote Control Centre (RCC), called const...

Automatic controllers work best when the system they control can be sufficiently well modelled. This is a problem for autonomous ships that interact with conventional ships, as the crew on other ships can and will exert unexpected behaviour that cannot be easily modelled. This paper will discuss the problem of situational assessment and prediction...

In 2019, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) made it mandatory to support the electronic clearance of ships entering foreign ports. In preparation, the IMO Facilitation Committee started to develop a reference data model to harmonise the most important standards for ship clearance. The first version was published in 2020. The model is alr...

Current guidelines for approval of autonomous ship systems are focused on the ships' concrete operations and their geographic area. This is a natural consequence of the link between geography and the navigational complexity, but moving the ship to a new area or changing owners may require a costly re-approval. The automotive industry has introduced...

One of the goals in the AUTOSHIP project is to develop common tools and methodologies for practitioners within the area of autonomous ships. To that end, this report describes the AUTOSHIP project's plans for a general and standardized design framework that will be developed for description, specification, and analysis of autonomous ship systems. T...

Autonomous cars have been researched since the 1980s and has created significant interest in both the research and commercial communities. Terminology is in the process of being standardized and the concept of the operational design domain has been proposed to define the capabilities of the car's driving automation system. Autonomous and unmanned s...

Shipping undergoes rapid digitization, covering safety and security reporting, mandatory ship documentation, electronic port clearance as well as commercial and operational information exchanges. Increasing automation of information processing, including the specific needs for autonomous ships, requires increased "digital trust" to allow humans to...

The concept of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) has gained much popularity in recent years, particularly in commercial settings where the name industrial autonomous mobile robot (IAMR) is proposed. In addition to automatic guided vehicles and automated mining trucks, IAMR also includes autonomous merchant ships. AMR is an old concept which was first...

In a previous paper we have suggested that the transferal of human accountability from an on-site human actor (such as the captain) to a remote human actor (such as the creator of the autonomous control system) could be regarded as the defining characteristic of autonomous systems. In this paper we take this approach one step further, by suggesting...

The Concept of Operations, or ConOps, has become a central document for the specification, design and approval of autonomous ship systems and operations in the absence of prescriptive rules and regulations. The flexible structure of the ConOps and the fact that it is written in prose text makes it very accessible for all involved stakeholders, but...

The European maritime transport policy recognizes the importance of the waterborne transport systems as key elements for sustainable growth in Europe. A major goal is to transfer more than 50% of road transport to rail or waterways within 2050. However, waterways are at a disadvantage as they normally depend on transhipment and land transport to an...

Maritime autonomous surface ships provide new capabilities for transport systems design, and by that the potential to dramatically change ship logistics. Advantages of autonomous ships include operational flexibility with more and smaller ships, combined with new ship hull and superstructure designs, allowing more cargo to be transported at lower c...

The purpose of this document is to provide a framework for autonomous ship system development and assessment methods. The framework includes • definitions of terminology and central concepts; • the life cycle aspect of the methodology, a description of the main development stages where the methodology can be used; • a description of the autonomous...

New developments in maritime industry include the design and operation of autonomous ships. The AUTOSHIP project is one initiative promoting the use of autonomous ships in European waters focusing on two specific use cases, a Short Sea Shipping (SSS) cargo vessel and an Inland Waterways (IWW) barge. The AUTOSHIP objectives include thorough regulato...

The transport sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and these emissions must be reduced. Maritime transport is essential in international trade and is a greener alternative to road transport. New energy systems and cleaner vehicle and cargo technology can reduce maritime emissions, but improved transport system efficiency...

This paper identifies key technological challenges associated with building and operating Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) and describes how existing and emerging technologies from other domains can contribute to addressing these challenges. The objective is not to provide an exhaustive list of technologies that could be utilized in future...

To be autonomous, systems must be able to capture, perceive, analyse, plan, make decisions and act without human intervention. These characteristics are very important and should be carried out in real time. This is what creates the challenge for autonomous systems to come out and become established players in real world. Different autonomous vehic...

Ships in autonomous mode will for a long time interact with conventional ships with human decision-makers on the bridge. For safety it will be necessary to simplify this interaction and this paper discusses three areas which will be crucial in this respect: the collision regulations, e-navigation and traffic separation schemes. To be able to code c...

A paradigm shift is presently underway in the shipping industry promising safer, greener and more efficient ship traffic. In this article, we will look at some of the accidents from conventional shipping and see if they could have been avoided with autonomous ship technology. A hypothesis of increased safety is often brought forward, and we know fr...

The maritime sector is rapidly being digitalized as part of the introduction of Shipping 4.0. One of the most important drivers for digitalization is the possibility to automate work processes on board and on shore. However, automating the work processes removes the human element from the process and by that the integrity and authenticity checks th...

The concept of the digital twin is gaining momentum in the maritime industry, but it brings with it new questions about data ownership and governance. Given the wide range of different data that can be stored in the digital twin, it is not clear if all these data can be stored in the same data base or even use the same governance model. Within the...

Shipping is getting more and more digitalized. To develop cost-effective digital tools for use in shipping, we are dependent on open international standards for data formats and exchanges. One manifestation of this is the Common Maritime Data Structure (CMDS), which has been defined as one of the pillars of the development of e-navigation solutions...

Today, maritime shipping undergoes rapid digitalization. This applies to safety and security reporting, mandatory ship documents, electronic port clearance as well as commercial and operational information exchanges. The move from paper and voice based communication to digital and automated information exchanges creates new requirements to authenti...

This document presents ideas from the Norwegian Forum for Autonomous Ships on how ship autonomy can be characterised. This also includes suggested definitions for other concepts that can help to define the context for autonomous ships. This is intended as an input to the international discussions on autonomous ship applications and is not proposed...

Public interest in autonomous ships has grown rapidly since 2012, when the MUNIN project started its investigations. In 2017, the first project, Yara Birkeland, was published and other projects are under development. The business case for autonomous ships is not obvious: Benefits are no crew cost and simpler ship structures. However, it needs expen...

A paradigm shift is presently underway in the shipping industry promising safer, greener and more efficient ship traffic with unmanned, autonomous vessels. In this article, we will look at some of these promises. The expression “autonomous” and “unmanned” are often used interchangeably. We will therefore start out by suggesting a taxonomy of autom...

This paper describes how the Automatic Identification System - Application Specific Message (AIS/ASM) via Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites can be used to transmit small data between ship and shore to facilitate information visibility in future maritime transport systems. The focus is on ships without advanced satellite terminals in remote areas whe...

This document contains definitions that are relevant when describing what an autonomous ship is, the context it operates in and the functions it needs to implement to operate safely. Section 1 gives a brief introduction, some high-level definitions and explains the relationships between the groups of definitions. Section 2 defines the different aut...

Automatic Identification System (AIS) is primarily used as a tracking system for ships, but with the launch of satellites to collect these data, new and previously untested possibilities are emerging. This paper presents the development of heuristics for establishing the specific ship type using information retrieved from AIS data alone. These heur...

Fully unmanned ships provide a very interesting opportunity to create new types of waterborne transport systems. No crew means that many ship systems can be removed and the ship can be designed differently. It will also in many cases enable the use of smaller ships, e.g. due to crew cost not being a factor in operational costs. Within a relatively...

Big Data is getting popular in shipping where large amounts of information is collected to better understand and improve logistics, emissions, energy consumption and maintenance. Constraints to the use of big data include cost and quality of on-board sensors and data acquisition systems, satellite communication, data ownership and technical obstacl...

The implementation of new e-navigation services will be heavily dependent on the Common Maritime Data Structure (CMDS) based on the IHO S-100 framework. Much work is already being committed to this. However, the development of CMDS is not trivial and there are in particular two issues that deserve more attention: 1. S-100 is a geographic informatio...

The MUNIN project is doing a feasibility study on an unmanned bulk carrier on an intercontinental voyage. To develop the technical and operational concepts, MUNIN has used a risk-based design method, based on the Formal Safety Analysis method which is also recommended by the International Mari-time Organization. Scenario analysis has been used to i...

Digital communication at sea in the high north is challenging as the conventionally used geostationary satellite systems operate close to their geographic limits which is around 80 degrees latitude. The only system that provides digital communication capabilities beyond this limitation is Iridium. The MARENOR project has investigated the actual qua...

While IMO's e-Navigation project's scope is to enhance safety of navigation by improved ship-to-shore-cooperation, the EU's FP7 project MUNIN's aim is to develop a concept for an autonomous dry bulk carrier, that is at least as safe as a manned vessel. As e-Navigation has a strong focus on improving the human element in shipping and MUNIN tends tow...

“e-Maritime” is still a concept under definition, but the concept is at this stage sufficiently clear to allow a discussion on its implications for standardisation. This report will try to provide some input to that discussion. Based on best current knowledge, it outlines a tentative structure for the e-Maritime concept and its definition and point...

An important benefit of performance-based contracts is a better risk and profit-sharing mechanism and by that a means to overcome the “split incentive” problem in current shipping contracts. “Split incentive” means that the risk or cost of implementing beneficial measures does not fall on the same party that gets the benefits. However, performance-...

This paper presents an ICT architecture for an unmanned merchant ship. This architecture is a specialisation of a previously described Maritime Intelligent Transport System architecture. The architecture includes semantic, functional and data model components in addition to the more conventional software framework. This is necessary to capture all...

Unmanned ships is an interesting proposal to implement slow steaming and saving fuel while avoiding that the crew has to stay on board for very long deep-sea passages. To maintain efficiency and safety, autonomy has to be implemented to enable the ship to operate without requiring the SCC to continuously control the ship. Communication between ship...

Port information management is considered a critical instrument towards enabling international transport and trade; thus, various forms of Port Information Systems (PORTIS) have been developed today, namely Port Community Systems, Terminal Operating Systems and Single Window systems. In Europe, the nautical information system SafeSeaNet is viewed a...

Ship transport can be said to be the original Intelligent Transport System and developments in this sector should be of interest for ITS research in other modes. This paper will investigate the requirements to a Maritime ITS architecture and describe elements of a possible solution. A driving force behind this architecture is the international natu...

This paper discusses emerging digital bandwidth requirements that may be a result of new e-Navigation services: A cumulative demand of around 50 kbps1 in coastal areas and up to 200 kbps in port approaches is suggested. An overview of possible communication carriers is given and a discussion of their respective suitability in different coverage are...

Shipping is increasingly relying on digital communication between ship and shore for operational, safety and infotainment purposes. However, there is a lack of knowledge of limitations and benefits of the different communication carriers with respect to different applications’ requirements. This report has analyzed communication requirements for va...

The e-Navigation concept is being studied by IMO, IALA and other organisations. According to plan, the user needs associated with e-Navigation should be finalized by IMO in 2009. One important component of e-Navigation is improved communication between ships and between ship and shore. MARINTEK, with funding from national and European projects, has...

This document contains definitions that are intended to aid users or designers of Integrated Safety and Emergency Systems (ISEMS) in specifying and comparing such systems. The document is the first and currently only systematic collection of requirements for ship board emergency management equipment. The document does not specify any standardized a...

This paper gives an overview of how electronic decision support systems can aid in evacuation and rescue operations at sea. The main benefit of such systems is probably that they give a much better overview of the situation and likely prospects and, thus, a corresponding better basis for the decision whether to evacuate or not. Electronic systems c...

SYNOPSIS Modern ships have complex monitoring and control systems that are designed to give a high number of technical and operational alarms. These alarms are essential for the safe operation and management of the ship and its systems. However, the Officers of the Watch (OOW), on the Bridge and in the Engine Control Room (ECR), can easily be distr...

Integrated safety and emergency management systems (ISEMS) can have a significant benefit in both day to day operations and in handling of emergencies onboard. No definitions of such integrated systems are yet available, but IMO and ISO have published some component standards and requirement specifications. A detailed cost-benefit analysis of ISEMS...

Overview of issues related to Integrated emergency management, mainly on large passenger ship and particular measures to support coordination between ship and shore parties.

Large passenger ships present special problems with regards to the handling of safety related incidents and emergencies. It is of outmost importance to avoid that incidents develop into emergencies and once an emergency has developed, to manage the situation as efficiently as possible. The use of integrated safety and emergency management systems (...

Companion standards are definitions of equipment interfaces in inte~rated control systems. One can say that companion standards define interfaces on the semantic level while most data communication protocols commonly define interfaces on the syntactic level. Companion standards are essential for interoperability in integrated control systems. They...

We describe some of our experiences from the development of a real-time control system for an autonomous underwater vehicle. This type of control system has to handle non-predictable events originating in a partly unknown world. We call this a reactive real time control system. Object oriented methods seem to be particularly appropriate for reactiv...

We describe some of our experiences from the development of a real-time control system for an autonomous underwater vehicle. This type of control system has to handle non-predictable events originating in a partly unknown world. We call this a reactive real time control system. Object oriented methods seem to be particularly appropriate for reactiv...

A major trend in ship control is to interface all vital systems on board to make an integrated system. The goal is to make better system, e.g., increase safety and reduce the operator’s workload Traditional ship control systems are not prepared for this integration. Most systems use point to point communication with proprietary protocols.

SINTEF has developed an object-oriented software architecture for advanced control systems called ASACS. We have also developed a corresponding operating system which makes it relatively simple to implement a control system in the ASACS architecture. The main objects in ASACS are “state variables”. Each state variable is a data container that repre...

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The control program for an autonomous underwater vehicle is described. The design is based mainly on intelligent control, and to a lesser degree on automatic control principles. The control program enables the vehicle to follow a route determined by a number of waypoints specified in world coordinates. Obstacles are detected and avoided. The main s...

This paper describes a tool for technical condition monitoring (TeCoMan) and how that tool has been ap-plied in various operational settings from long term condition monitoring, via continuous ship and fleet con-dition monitoring to on-line safety monitoring. The tool is based on a hierarchical aggregation of "Technical Condition Indices" (TCI). Th...