Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services
Simulation and Automation of Maritime Shipping
The development of assistance systems for maritime shipping has been an important focus of research at the CML for many years.
A concept for an autonomous merchant ship was the starting point for the development of a range of technologies that have since been further developed and tested using the CML's ship simulators. Examples of the new solutions include a land control station that enables comprehensive monitoring of a fleet of ships from land and an autonomous navigation system that recognizes potentially dangerous situations at an early stage and suggests appropriate responses if necessary. In order to open up further dimensions of maritime simulations, the researchers at the CML developed the European Maritime Simulator Network EMSN. This currently enables 37 ship bridges at 13 locations worldwide to be connected in order to carry out joint virtual maneuvers, simulate critical situations or test new communication solutions.
The collaboration with Novia, the maritime university in Turku, Finland, has led to the establishment of the first Fraunhofer innovation platform in Finland, the “Fraunhofer Innovation Platform for Smart Shipping at Novia University of Applied Sciences”, or FIP-S2@Novia for short. The extensive simulation infrastructures and bundled expertise will initially be implemented in a mirror version of the EMSN so that large virtual maneuvers can also be initiated and carried out from Finland.
FIP-S2@Novia presented a new step towards virtual integration at Nor-Shipping 2022 in Oslo: Another participant will be integrated in a simulation via VR goggles, which will be used to control SAR operations of a fast rescue boat (“Fast Rescue Boat”).