Wärtsilä successfully tests remote control ship operating capability
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Wärtsilä Corporation, Press release, 1 September 2017 at 10 am EET
The technology group Wärtsilä has taken a further important step towards
developing its Smart Marine capabilities by successfully testing the remote
control of ship operations. The testing, which involved driving the vessel
through a sequence of manoeuvres using a combination of Dynamic Positioning (DP)
and manual joystick control, was carried out on August 21 off the North Sea
coast of Scotland in collaboration with Gulfmark Offshore, the U.S. based
operator who provided the vessel for the project. Although the test vessel was
in the North Sea, the remote control navigating was carried out from the
Wärtsilä office located in San Diego, California, 8000 km (5000 miles) away.
Wärtsilä's Dynamic Positioning unit developed remote control capabilities in the
early part of 2016, but this was the first test carried out on an offshore
vessel. The vessel, the 'Highland Chieftain' is an 80 metre platform supply
vessel already fitted with a Wärtsilä Nacos Platinum package for Navigation,
Automation and Dynamic Positioning systems, as well as a Wärtsilä drives
package. For the test, additional software was temporarily added to the DP
system in order to route data over the vessel's satellite link to the onshore
work station in California.
Most importantly, the Wärtsilä testing was carried out using standard bandwidth
onboard satellite communication. No land-based technology was used for the
communications between the vessel and the remote operator work station. The
retrofitting of the DP software was completed within just 30 hours and with
minimal inconvenience, thanks to Wärtsilä's modular and easily upgradable
system.
The successful test was conducted over an almost 4 hour period during which time
the vessel was driven through a series of manoeuvres at both high and low
speeds. All the test procedures carried out went as planned.
"Wärtsilä is committed to developing technologies that enable a Smart Marine
future. In the age of digitalisation, the future Smart Marine ecosystem will
involve connecting 'smart' vessels with 'smart' ports to enable an even more
efficient use of resources. It will also reduce the impact on climate while
enhancing safety," says Roger Holm, President, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.
Andrea Morgante, Head of Digital, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions adds: "One of the
first and most critical hurdles to overcome along the path to the enablement of
intelligent shipping is to develop efficient and reliable remote control and
monitoring capabilities, taking factors such as bandwidth limitations and cyber
security into consideration. This test provides a clear indication that we are
well on the way to achieving this. The fact that the ship was enabled for remote
operation in only a few hours is a strong endorsement of Wärtsilä's position at
the forefront of marine technology development. At Wärtsilä, we are fully
engaged in developing 'intelligent' vessels since we consider such technologies
to be vital to maintaining a profitable future for our customers."
It is anticipated that Wärtsilä's development of successful remote access to
ships will also enable virtual service solutions to customers needing tuning or
testing of their DP systems. Furthermore, this solution will be used for other
pilot projects, such as automated docking procedures.
"At Gulfmark Offshore, we believe that it is important to embrace new
technologies since they represent the future of our industry. If companies are
to remain competitive they must look ahead and take advantage of the tremendous
development work being done by companies such as Wärtsilä. For this reason, we
are most happy to cooperate with Wärtsilä in this exciting project," says Ashley
Robinson, SVP Operations Gulfmark.
Wärtsilä has earlier supplied three of Gulfmark Offshore's 'Highland series'
vessels with various products, systems and solutions, as well as DP systems to
several other vessel series within the company's fleet.
Watch this video to see more.
Link to image
Caption: The remote control navigating station was in California while the ship
being controlled was off the coast of Scotland.
Link to image
Caption: Gulfmark Offshore's the 'Highland Chieftain' was the vessel used for
the test.
Media contacts:
Mr Maik Stoevhase
Director, Automation, Navigation and Control & Integrated Systems
Wärtsilä Marine Solutions
Tel: +49 4088 25 2701
maik.stoevhase(at)wartsila.com
Ms Marit Holmlund-Sund
Senior Manager Marketing, Communications, Marine Solutions
Wärtsilä Corporation
Tel: +358 10 709 1439
marit.holmlund-sund(at)wartsila.com
Wärtsilä in brief:
Wärtsilä is a global leader in advanced technologies and complete lifecycle
solutions for the marine and energy markets. By emphasising sustainable
innovation and total efficiency, Wärtsilä maximises the environmental and
economic performance of the vessels and power plants of its customers. In 2016,
Wärtsilä's net sales totalled EUR 4.8 billion with approximately 18,000
employees. The company has operations in over 200 locations in more than 70
countries around the world. Wärtsilä is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
www.wartsila.com
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Wärtsilä Oyj Abp via GlobeNewswire
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 01.09.2017 - 09:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 558522
Anzahl Zeichen: 6253
contact information:
Town:
Helsinki
Kategorie:
Business News
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"Wärtsilä successfully tests remote control ship operating capability"
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