Maneuvering Support System (MSS) for port regions

• Grant number: 18/16594-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: August 01, 2019
• End date: January 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Naval and Oceanic Engineering - Shipbuilding and Ocean Systems Technology
• Principal Investigator: André Seiji Sandes Ianagui
• Grantee: André Seiji Sandes Ianagui
• Company: Navigandi Pesquisas e Desenvolvimento de Equipamentos Marítimos Ltda
• CNAE: Atividades técnicas relacionadas à arquitetura e engenharia ; Pesquisa e desenvolvimento experimental em ciências físicas e naturais
• City: São Paulo
• Pesquisadores principais: Carlos Eduardo Caparroz Duarte
• Associated researchers: Eduardo Aoun Tannuri
• Associated research grant(s): 21/10060-7 - Maneuvering Support System (MSS) for port regions, AP.PIPE
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/23407-5 - Augmented Reality Interface for Maritime Navigation in Sheltered Areas and During Berthing Maneuvers., BP.TT

Abstract

It is everyone's knowledge that the poor Brazilian logistics infrastructure is one of the main factors responsible for blocking the country's economic growth. This problem affects several transportation facilities, specially the maritime one. The width of the access channels, the availability of the terminals, and the maintenance/expansion of dredge areas, all contribute for the excessive price shipowners pay to moor their vessels in the country. In addition, due to the problems mentioned, it is not astonishing that the pilot's services end up being extremely high. The pilot is the main responsible for a maneuver in the port region, and thus, in order to mitigate risks, usually uses some assisting equipment. Focused on this segment, this project seeks to develop a new product capable of providing real-time dynamic information of the vessels and the surroundings in order to assist the pilot during the maritime maneuvers. Nowadays, in the market, the existent assistance equipment have several deficiencies that diminish their usage by the pilots. First of all, one could cite the ergonomic problems: although called as Portable Pilot Units (PPU), the most precise versions are heavy (4 kg), making the pilot's boarding process extremely difficult. Whilst there are lighter PPU versions, they are not reliable. This is the case because they use information from the main vessel's sensors, which is not recommended since a degree of redundancy is lost. In addition, the current PPU versions only provide the maneuvering information throughout the usage of tablets. Such information display is not recommended because the pilots should not need to take their eyes out of the maneuver, losing attention, in order to obtain assistance. This research project seeks to develop a new assisting tool for pilots, which will be called from now on as Maneuvering Support System (MSS). The MSS will correct all the deficiencies presented on the other assisting tools, keeping the main idea of obtaining high precise navigation information without using any of the vessel's equipment. In order to do so, the most modern portable navigation systems will be used. The research group seeks to develop a MSS with an ergonomic design, maximum weight of 0.8 kg, minimum position precision of 0.2 m and minimum heading precision of 0.1 °. In order to keep the pilots' attention completely on the maneuver, an innovation is proposed: the usage of augmented reality glasses to display the navigational information. Such technological advancement will allow the pilots to keep their hands free during the maneuver, without the necessity to carry a tablet on board. In addition, the concepts of augmented reality may even increase the ports operational capability, assisting, for examples, during night maneuvers, where the visibility is mitigated. Even though the pilots are the initial main customer segment of the MSS, the research group is looking to expand the product for tugboats and leisure vessels. The synchronization of external tide, current, wave and wind conditions in real-time, available throughout pre-existent field instruments, associated with tugboats' telemetry data, would allow the group to enter on research fields focusing on obtaining the optimal tugboat towing position, in such a way that the efficiency is maximized, and the fuel consumption is minimized. Based on the success of the future research along with the exclusive customer relationship that will be provided, it is expected a great acceptability by the pilots' segment in Brazil. Since the product proposed will be robust and disruptive, it has real conditions to even reach the global market. (AU)