Sea Traffic and Nautical Solutions

Ergonomic design of navigation systems in the BEYOND project

The increasing digitalization and integration of ship operations, navigation, communication, safety equipment and systems have expanded the functionality of modern navigation systems. However, this has also increased the workload for the crew, making it more difficult to develop situational awareness and make appropriate decisions, especially in critical situations. In the BEYOND research project - Building an Experience to Yield Optimal Nautical Displays - Fraunhofer CML's researchers developed and validated a comprehensive toolbox for evaluating maritime HMIs.

Remote support for maritime navigation

The RePo MAN project focuses on the use of modern technologies to improve the safety and efficiency of pilotage at sea. Traditionally, pilots have faced significant risks when boarding ships, especially in rough weather conditions. The project aims to eliminate these risks by introducing remote pilotage systems that enable pilots to guide vessels from shore-based facilities using advanced technologies.

Innovative server for digital nautical charts

Until now, electronic nautical charts have primarily been provided for on-board navigation systems. The Octopus ENC Server developed at the CML, on the other hand, can be seamlessly integrated into existing maritime processes.

Additive Manufacturing - 3D-Printing Competence at Fraunhofer CML

Did you ever want to try something but hesitated because you couldn’t find a quick and easy way to make your idea come to life? Did you ever need a specific part to finish your design that was unavailable in stores? If so, Fraunhofer CML 3D-printing expertise may be the solution for you.

SeaClear Project - Search, Identification and Collection of marine Litter with Autonomous Robots 

Floating garbage islands, trash found in bird stomachs and traces of microplastics discovered in sea food have become shocking yet regular reports in the media. Their negative impacts are widely known and affect local flora and fauna as well as the human population everywhere.

In the fight against litter accumulation on the seafloor, the SeaClear project deals with the development of a holistic system for the search, identification, mapping, and collection of marine litter on the sea-floor.

SeaML:WebUI - Making Robotic Service End-User Ready        

Web, 6G, IoT, cloud computing, big data, autonomous robotics, machine learning... they are heard over and over again. Although they seem complicated and mysterious at first sight, we strive to deliver their benefits to end-users in a human-friendly and natural way.

The Web Service Layer provided by Fraunhofer CML is designed to deal with complex robotic systems. Even when there are multiple operators simultaneously controlling multiple robotic systems remotely, the integrity and traceability of data are guaranteed through the authentication and access control mechanism. For safety critical components such as unmanned vehicles, our live monitoring and control overriding capabilities provide managers with more options in handling potentially hazardous situations.

SeaML:UXV - Enabling Maritime Assistance Robotics As A Service        

Fraunhofer CML’s surface, aerial, underwater and crawling vessels (UXVs) are a combination of in-house developments and commercials products that form an interconnected unmanned robotic vessel fleet. The robots are modular in design enabling the incorporation of survey-specific measurement equipment to perform unmanned services for near-shore and ports operations.

Each vessel can execute a user-specific task, while information is relayed and saved within the cloud and is displayed to the user in real time and stored for post-survey data analysis. An operator is supervising the vessel continuously in the background to keep the human in the loop and ensuring all safety requirements for safe dispatch and recover of the robotic vessel at the targeted area of interest. This holistic modular setup allows researching, demonstrating and validating of novel on-demand Robot As-a-Service concepts.

SeaML:SeaLion - A Modular Autonomous Surface Vehicle to Digitize Maritime Tasks        

Similar to their natural namesake being adapted to live in a large range of habitats across the world, having tremendous sensory and cognitive capabilities, Fraunhofer CML’s SeaLion is a highly modular robotic platform that can carry a large set of sensors and robotic devices to perform specific and complex service tasks.

The in-house developed Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) SeaML:SeaLion was originally conceptualized to demonstrate that interconnected robotic vessels can provide on-demand robotic assistance services for the near-shore and port environment such as ship inspections (RoboVaaS project).

Web Service Layer - The next Generation Digital Frontier        

The Web Service Layer provided by Fraunhofer CML is designed to deal with complex robotic systems. Even when there are multiple operators simultaneously controlling multiple robotic systems remotely, the integrity and traceability of data are guaranteed through the authentication and access control mechanism.

For safety critical components such as unmanned vehicles, our live monitoring and control overriding capabilities provide managers with more options in handling potentially hazardous situations.

Biomimetic Solutions - Nature inspires technological advancement 

Biomimetics can function as a strategic concept to create highly innovative and sustainable biomimetic solutions throughout all industries. The feet of a gecko are a prominent example for an application of biomimetics for industry purposes. 

Digitalization, Industry 4.0 and the newest trend „Biological Transformation of Manufacturing“ are pushing companies to escape their traditional ways of design and manufacturing and instead use bio-inspiration to shift to bio-intelligent strategies. Within projects like AIRCOAT and BIOINSPACED, the biomimetic experts at Fraunhofer CML have put their knowledge to good use to facilitate the implementation of biomimetics into industry projects.

NAVIGATIONAL SAFETY ASSESSMENT AND MOORING ANALYIS

Navigational safety assessments comprise the investigation and evaluation of a potential risk of collision or grounding of a vessel under specific circumstances, e.g. in poor weather or in congested traffic situations. Using real-time simulation methods facilitates the assessment of risks without posing a threat to humans and assets.

Green Shipping

Shipping transports 90% of global goods while consuming 276 mega tonnes of fuel annually. This leads to an emission of 940 mega tonnes of CO2 and a contribution to 2.5 % of global Greenhouse Gas emissions annually. One approach to reduce these emissions is the application of adaptive weather routing solutions developed at Fraunhofer CML.

EMSN Connect

European Maritime Simulator Network - Cadets, Officers and Navigators now Experience Cooperative Training - this is the idea of EMSN Connect. Today, more than 10 maritime simulation centers with over 30 bridges are involved in the network. They use the platform for joint testing of new solutions for maritime communication and navigation as well as for training nautical personnel. For this purpose, complex virtual environments are created that provide realistic manoeuvring conditions. Read more in our flyer!

Maritime Biomimetics

Are you curious how your company can benefit from the diversity of natural solutions? The Biomimetic Blue Solutions Team of the Fraunhofer CML can uncover biomimetic solutions for you and support in your bio-inspired developments.

Customized Maritime Big Data Analysis

With the introduction of the requirement of merchant ships being equipped with transmitters of the Automatic Identifcation System (AIS), efficiency and safety of the maritime transport could be increased by the automated exchange of position, speed, course and other data from ship to ship, or ship to base station. In addition to forecasting ship movements, Fraunhofer CML develops intelligent algorithms for many other applications.

Solutions for ship controlling: Autonomous Navigation and Shore Controlling System

Fraunhofer CML invents new systems for safe shipping across the oceans. Find out more about informative innovations such as the collision avoidance controller, harsh weather controller and more in this flyer.

Innovative Nautical Solutions: A Modular Testbed Framework

The future of shipping is distinguished by e-navigation, Shipping 4.0 and modern technology. Ship simulators, central data communication and modular testbed structures are needed to ensure autonomous navigation.

Simulation-Based Navigational Safety Assessment

Using real-time simulation methods, the risk of ship collisions or groundings can be minimized. Especially, the methods can be used in ports to save their infra- and superstructure from unsafe navigation by guiding pilots and tugs. The system and its methods are introduced in this flyer.