Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering Labs 3rd Open Call for innovation projects: New Cyber Physical e-Navigation Solutions

Date de clôture : 22 juin 2016  
APPEL À PROJET CLÔTURÉ

Overview

This call addresses experiments regarding the development, test, validation and/or verification of new e- Navigation solutions based on an e-Navigation testbed.

Specific Challenge

The maritime domain historically comes from paper charts. Significant new business opportunities arise by using information technology that enable the digital transformation of the maritime sector. The Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) have been one of the first famous systems that make use of information technology to enhance maritime safety. Furthermore, the IMO with its e-Navigation Strategy goes towards a new harmonised information exchange between the several maritime stakeholders to make maritime transportation safer and more efficient (MSC85-26, Add. 1, Annex 20, 2009).

New systems supporting this e-Navigation strategy such as new Integrated Bridge Systems (IBS) or networked Vessel Traffic Service Systems (VTSS). This new generation of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) is transforming the way humans and machines (like ships) interact with the physical world and by this will have strong influence on the future of navigation. However, the development, testing, validation and verification of new e-Navigation solutions usually causes huge efforts due to the need for testing infrastructure, deployment of test systems and sea trials.

With the e-Maritime Integrated Reference Platform (eMIR, www.emaritime.de) the Design Centre Germany North provides a testbed for e-Maritime and e-Navigation solutions. This platform consists of the simulation environment HAGGIS that can be used for early simulation based development and testing as well as of the physical testbed LABSKAUS installed at the Germany Coast. HAGGIS comes with a number of simulators: Maritime Traffic Simulation, Sensor Simulators, Environment Simulators, and a cognitive human behaviour simulator. LABSKAUS provides a mobile bridge, an experimental VTS, a research boat with sensor equipment (AIS, radar, D-GPS, compass, LTE), shore based sensor stations (radar, camera, wind) located in Cuxhaven and Brunsbüttel and data exchange components for information exchange and cooperative decision making between ship and shore.

Furthermore, the testbeds are underpinned with methods for architecture development (the Maritime Architecture Framework, MAF) to support the realization of interoperable systems and services.

The objective of experiments within this call is to use this testbeds for the development and early testing, validation and verification of new Cyber-Physical e-Navigation solutions. Such solutions can be (amongst others):

• New sensor technology like LIDAR for distance measurement for navigation and collision avoidance

• New assistance functions for collision avoidance, berthing, tug operations, automatic navigation

• New assistance functions for manoeuver execution

• Data exchange functions for cooperative navigation in dense traffic areas (ship/shore, ship/ship data exchange)

Experiments shall describe a new e-Navigation solution that will enhance safety and/or efficiency of maritime traffic and how this new solution shall be tested using the eMIR platform. The relevance of the e- Navigation solution with respect to the e-Navigation Strategy Implementation Plan shall be described. Furthermore, the expected benefit (costs, resources, time) of the availability of a maritime testbed compared to the development without a testbed shall be assessed.

The solution developed in the experiment shall either

• Use existing knowledge from another domain and bring it to the maritime domain (e. g. transferring knowledge about collision avoidance in the avionics domain to the maritime domain) or

• Create new vendor-supplier relationships to create new products (e. g. embedded system controller supplier and INS vendor working together in a consortium to develop new navigation equipment) or

• Use existing knowledge and bring it to a new use case (e. g. LIDAR distance measurement for collision avoidance on high sea or for berthing operations)

Design Centre Support

For the experiment, the Design Centre North provides access to the components of the eMIR platform and will execute workshops together with the experiment partners to support them with the usage of these components.

The Design Centre North will support and consult experiment partners to adequately gather the information expected in the call. Furthermore, the design centre will coordinate alignment between the applying experiment partners and consortia/partners of already running experiments to enable later on interoperability of experiment solutions.

Expected Results

The experiment shall produce new cyber physical e-Navigation solutions that have been tested and demonstrated using the eMIR platform. A report about the benefits of the using the testbed for the development and testing of the e-Navigation solutions shall be provided. Furthermore, an analysis about possible future improvements and extensions of the existing testbed to optimize it towards the needs of the maritime industry shall be conducted and documented.

Expected Impact

The results gained from the experiments shall be taken as starting point for the development and/or demonstration of new products or services supplied to customers or directly transferred and applied for industrial use.

The experiment will be used to identify needs for improvements to better fit the needs for testing, verification, validation and demonstration using this testbeds. From this improvements the whole maritime domain will benefit, in addition the demonstration will transfer the knowledge about this platform and by this lower the entry barriers to use this platform.