From February 26 to March 1, the Designing the Future of Full Autonomous Ship consortium conducted a trial simulating the actual operation of a fully autonomous ship at a distance of approximately 790 kilometers between Tokyo Bay and Ise Bay. In the trial, the container ship Suzaku was equipped with an autonomous navigation function and connected by satellite and a ground communication line to a fleet operation center that had functions such as remote maneuvering and engine-abnormality prediction to support the operation of a fully autonomous ship from shore.The trial was then conducted in a manner that simulated the actual operation of future fully autonomous ships, successfully completing a series of voyages that amounted to about a 790-kilometer round-trip between Tokyo Bay and Ise Bay, including offshore maneuvering, bay navigation, coastal navigation, and berthing maneuvering, using a comprehensive fully autonomous navigation DFFAS system.With an eye toward full-scale implementation, the DFFAS consortium developed a DFFAS system with repeated risk assessments carried out from the design stage. The system has three primary components(1) a ship-side navigation system that controls autonomous functions from the ship(2) a shore-side system that monitors and supports the ship from shore, including remote ship-handling functions(3) an information and communications system that enables stable communication between the ship and shore.The DFFAS project comprises 30 Japanese companies including NYK and NYK Group companies Japan Marine Science Inc, MTI Co Ltd and Kinkai Yusen Kaisha Ltd. The consortium is participating in the Joint Technological Development Programme for the Demonstration of Fully Autonomous Ships under the fully autonomous ship project "MEGURI 2040" administrated by the Nippon Foundation.
From February 26 to March 1, the Designing the Future of Full Autonomous Ship consortium conducted a trial simulating the actual operation of a fully autonomous ship at a distance of approximately 790 kilometers between Tokyo Bay and Ise Bay. In the trial, the container ship Suzaku was equipped with an autonomous navigation function and connected by satellite and a ground communication line to a fleet operation center that had functions such as remote maneuvering and engine-abnormality prediction to support the operation of a fully autonomous ship from shore.The trial was then conducted in a manner that simulated the actual operation of future fully autonomous ships, successfully completing a series of voyages that amounted to about a 790-kilometer round-trip between Tokyo Bay and Ise Bay, including offshore maneuvering, bay navigation, coastal navigation, and berthing maneuvering, using a comprehensive fully autonomous navigation DFFAS system.With an eye toward full-scale implementation, the DFFAS consortium developed a DFFAS system with repeated risk assessments carried out from the design stage. The system has three primary components(1) a ship-side navigation system that controls autonomous functions from the ship(2) a shore-side system that monitors and supports the ship from shore, including remote ship-handling functions(3) an information and communications system that enables stable communication between the ship and shore.The DFFAS project comprises 30 Japanese companies including NYK and NYK Group companies Japan Marine Science Inc, MTI Co Ltd and Kinkai Yusen Kaisha Ltd. The consortium is participating in the Joint Technological Development Programme for the Demonstration of Fully Autonomous Ships under the fully autonomous ship project "MEGURI 2040" administrated by the Nippon Foundation.
