The concept design of an Autonomous Guard Vessel revealed today is set to revolutionize the offshore industry. The futuristic looking design is created by a consortium of maritime companies looking to support the offshore industry by exploiting technology available today.
The novel design is smaller and lighter than most current guard vessels used to protect offshore operations and boasts sustainable solutions as well as exploiting the benefits of autonomous shipping. In addition, the Autonomous Guard Vessel (AGV) is set to operate more efficiently as well as require lower operating costs due to no crew being required.
This clean and lean concept to replace conventional guard vessels came to life in a project group facilitated by LISA, a community for maritime professionals. The project group resulted in a consortium, which includes C-Job Naval Architects, SeaZip Offshore Service, Sea Machines and recently joined by MARIN and eL-Tec elektrotechniek BV. Their combined industry knowledge created this viable, innovative, and sustainable alternative which benefits both wind asset owners and guard vessel operators.
The Autonomous Guard Vessel is specifically designed for surveillance of offshore structures throughout their life cycle, ranging from wind farms to substation platforms and cable routes. With any area that needs to be secured, the AGV can continuously monitor nearby marine traffic visually as well as via radar and AIS data. With any vessel that approaches the area, measures will be taken to secure the area in order to avoid collisions and damage to the offshore infrastructure. An intruding vessel can be communicated with and will receive information on how to safely navigate the area as well as being physically escorted away from the site by the Autonomous Guard Vessel. Additionally, the encounter will be recorded to provide video footage in case of any violation or accident.
Pelle de Jong, Founding Partner LISA, explains “Guard vessels perform an essential job, however, it is not the most exciting one for crew. Combined with the fact that conventional guard vessels are mostly outdated and thus aren’t necessarily the most comfortable let alone sustainable, it can be difficult to find well-trained crew willing to do the job.
“The group set out to improve upon the overall process of securing an offshore area while incorporating sustainable solutions and reducing overall cost. By utilizing the knowledge we have as a group as well as the technology already available, we succeeded in creating a design which does this and more.”
Thanks to incorporating state-of-the-art technology, the Autonomous Guard Vessel does not require crew onboard the vessel. Therefore, accommodations can be eliminated in the design, meaning the ship will be considerably smaller than existing guard vessels. The smaller size creates a number of opportunities, such as using batteries thanks to reduced propulsion requirements. Additionally, the reduced power and lack of onboard crew leads to lower operational costs.
Sustainability is key to ensure both the viability and durability of the design. Rolph Hijdra, Autonomous Research Lead at C-Job Naval Architects, says “We are pleased we were able to develop a battery-powered design, ensuring the Autonomous Guard Vessel is free of harmful emissions. Additionally, the ship has solar panels across the top which allows for the continuation of navigation and communications in case the batteries run out of power.
“Contrary to current guard vessels, the AGV will continue to be operational even with rough sea conditions and have minimal underwater noise owing to the smaller size, reduced propulsion requirements and absence of a diesel engine.”
The Autonomous Guard Vessel will recharge its batteries via a charging station. The charging station can be moored independently or connected to existing equipment onsite. Depending on the situation, charging could either be via a cable connection to the on-site equipment such as an offshore transformer platform or locally generated using renewable fuels.
The consortium envisions an offshore site will need a number of Autonomous Guard Vessels, which can take turns in monitoring the area and recharging. Harm Mulder, Operations Manager at SeaZip Offshore Service, says “The Autonomous Guard Vessels will be constantly patrolling the area and take turns recharging. One fully charged AGV will remain on stand-by supporting operations if a situation arises. For example, when an intrusion is detected – one of the AGVs will monitor, warn, and escort the intruding ship to safety, while the others continue normal operations. Alternatively, it could take over from a monitoring vessel in case the battery runs out of power.”
While the consortium continues to work on the Autonomous Guard Vessel design, they have considered human intervention for the unmanned vessel. Conventional guard vessels patrolling offshore structures, from installation through to decommissioning, have few incidents that require intervention from those onboard the vessel. For those exceptional circumstances the Autonomous Guard Vessel, if human intervention would be required, will be connected to a Command Center which could control the AGV remotely to ensure correct action is taken. In addition, all data collected by the AGV will be send to the Command Center. This can be a standalone on a mother ship or a shore-based station.
Frank Relou, Business Development Manager at Sea Machines, says “Smart vessel technology will have the most significant initial impact on small workboats, such as this guard vessel. The development of autonomous technology for vessel operations are occurring on an international level but namely in niche segments, such as the guard vessel and other examples, currently operating in (with supervised autonomy), marine survey, fire, patrol, aquaculture and offshore wind operations.”
For more information on the Autonomous Guard Vessel, please contact one of the consortium partners; C-Job Naval Architects, LISA, SeaZip Offshore Service, Sea Machines, MARIN, and eL-Tec elektrotechnologie BV.
Additional key features of the Autonomous Guard Vessel
- Unmanned
- Battery-powered
- 12 hours of continuous operations would require 174 kWh battery capacity. However, alternative options of # hour of operations vs battery packs are still being explored
- Solar panels across the top to ensure continuation of navigation and communications in case the batteries run out of power
- Length: 11.7 m
- Breadth: 2.07 m
- Depth 1.50 m
- Draught: 0.55 m
- Max. interception speed: 15 knots
- Two independent drive lines for redundancy
- Unlimited Communication range
- Equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance system for effective and reliable evidence collection
- Search and Rescue (SAR) modus Life raft onboard which can be deployed in emergencies
- Environmental surveillance modus
- Collision Avoidance modus for fixed structures
- AGV is self-righting meaning that in extreme conditions, the vessel will restore to its upright condition after a capsizing event took place.
- Full AGV is able to be stored and transported in a 40 FT container.
- Equipped with single point of lifting for maintenance purposes without human beings on-board. By these means disregarding all kinds of safety requirements.
- Towing bids forward and aft.
- In addition to protecting offshore structures, the Autonomous Guard Vessel could also be deployed for surveillance of cable/pipe laying operations, mitigation of piracy activities, and illegal fishing Sustainable aquaculture; fish, crustaceans, mollusks, aquatic plants, algae, and other organisms, border protection (Coastal surveillance), firefighting operations, line handling in port, subsea route survey, etc
- Due to minimal underwater noise can be deployed to vulnerable areas such as the North Sea
About LISA:
Every day, 80.000 commercial ships transport goods and raw materials, serve the leisure market and execute projects in ports and offshore sites. Thousands of companies make this possible. LISA connects the people within the companies that design, build, supply, maintain, repair, converse, operate, manage, sell and recycle commercial ships.
The work they do is often challenging and most of what they learn is on the job. With LISA, a whole new source of knowledge, inspiration and support is available at their fingertips, using state of the art technology, peer-to-peer coaching and in depth industry insights.
Join the community for free at www.lisa.community, or download the LISA community App in the Appstore/Playstore.
About C-Job Naval Architects:
C-Job Naval Architects is a worldwide independent ship design and engineering company with its headquarters in the Netherlands. The company now employs over 160 in-house maritime engineers and naval architects in six offices across the globe.
C-Job has a passion for everything afloat. Whether it is new build or conversions and modifications, C-Job is renowned for ground-breaking new vessels in a broad range of maritime sectors that includes dredging, heavy lift, offshore (wind), ferries, workboats, superyachts and more.
From the very first concept vessel designs, through to basic and detailed engineering packages, C-Job engineers are committed to producing new, innovative and sustainable solutions for the global maritime shipbuilding industry. Its attention to detail and close cooperation with ship owners and yards means that C-Job is able to develop exactly what the client has in mind.
In addition to ship design services, C-Job also offers clients worldwide assistance and support during the construction process (Building Supervision) and interior engineering and design.
For more information, please visit www.c-job.com.
About Seazip Offshore Service
SeaZip has operated in the offshore energy market since 2013. It focuses on the rapidly growing offshore wind industry and the offshore oil and gas industry. SeaZip serves both segments and, for the last year, it was involved in a great many international construction and maintenance projects. The organisation is designed to cater for rapidly changing availability and deployment requirements which are inherent in the own dynamics of all offshore Operations & Maintenance activities quickly and adequately. The service vessels with their crews are always on standby, both for short-term and long-term projects. All efforts focus on our core promise: maximum performance and safety in providing services to the customers in the offshore (wind) industry.
About Sea Machines
Sea Machines is the leader in pioneering autonomous control and advanced perception systems for the marine industries. The company builds autonomous vessel software and systems, which increases the safety, efficiency and performance of ships, workboats and commercial vessels.Using our knowledge on data integration, smart data management and human machine interface.
About MARIN
The sea, a challenge to man and machine. As an independent research facility, MARIN conducts research for the maritime industry and for governments. We help to find innovative solutions from design through to operation and so serve to bridge the gap between academic research and market demand. Our aim: the development of cleaner, safer and smarter ships and sustainable use of the sea. In this we work together with an extensive innovation and research network of customers and partners, using the latest calculation and test facilities, full-scale measurement and simulators. MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands) is based in Wageningen, with 370 staff working daily in advanced hydrodynamics and nautical expertise. MARIN was founded in 1932. MARIN, challenging wind and waves
About eL-Tec elektrotechnologie BV
eL-Tec Elektrotechnologie is specialized in complex electrical technology. We design and install systems for the industrial and marine sectors. Based in The Netherlands, we create solutions for complex production processes, machine control technic or for the maritime environment on board of ships through our electrical installations, engineering, panel construction and integrating various systems into one operating system.
