seatec - Finnish marine technology review 2/2017 | Page 12

Preparing for the era of autonomous ships by: MERJA KIHL AND ARI MONONEN photos: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC. In a joint effort, Rolls-Royce, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Tampere University of Technology – along with other experts – are researching new technologies for the pilot projects of autonomous ships. Modern remote-control systems for maritime applications are also on the drawing board.    The development of onboard sensors and automation systems will eventually also benefit the operators of more traditional kinds of vessels. F or some years already, Rolls-Royce Applications Initiative that was started in stages, but several other related projects Marine has been involved in the late 2015. are now ongoing,” says Mr. Sauli Eloranta, research and development of remote-con- This project has proved successful in Senior Vice President for Technology Man- trolled and autonomous ships. One of the the development of concepts and automa- agement and Innovation at Rolls-Royce early R&D projects in this field was AAWA, tion systems for unmanned vessels. Marine. the Advanced Autonomous Waterbourne 12 seatec 2/2017 ”Now the AAWA project is in its final ”For instance, we have strategic part-