Sailing autonomously with Naval

Each vessel is equipped with the necessary hard- and software to enable navigation from an on-shore control center, which allows for remotely controlled navigation. All navigational tasks, including navigation and steering, manoeuvring, lock passages, mooring and unmooring, communication with other vessels and on-shore authorities via VHF, communication with on-board crew and people on shore (via walkie-talkie or via megaphone/intercom) is carried out by the On Shore Operator in the remote On Shore Control Center (SCC).

This implies that no tasks pertaining to the navigation have to be carried out by on-board personnel and the captain remaining on board is only present in a supervisory role. The on-shore operator is a fully licensed skipper/captain, in accordance with CCNR regulations for on-board personnel.

In order to manage the full suite of navigational tasks from the SCC, the River Drone is equipped with (in addition to all required navigational equipment including radar, VHF, etc. which remain on board) with a full set of tools and equipment to enable the operation: 4 x 4G/5G antennas supply a (quadruple) redundant communication from the vessel to the SSC.

Over the 4G/5G connection, a full set of sensory data is supplied to the SSC with data from 13 camera’s (including night vision camera’s and IR-imaging), 5 on-board LIDAR sensors, multiple (3) on board microphones and 2 radar antenna’s. All data is transferred in real-time to the SSC where the operator has full view of the vessel, including data from the on-board radar, pilot system, steering indicator, fathometer, VHF/Intercom, AIS, ECDIS and compass – all data providing the operator with a full view and information allowing safe navigation identical to navigation on board. All data received are constantly logged, and logging data is stored/kept for later retrieval and analysis.