VTT and Rolls-Royce unveil and design a control room with real technology to man the cargo ships of the future

Touch screens, 3D images and videos, biometric retina and fingerprint recognition, augmented reality, thermal cameras,…all integrated under the concept of a control room, on-site and remotely, is the vision designed by VTT and Rolls-Royce Marine on what cargo and supply ships will be like in the year 2025, with technologies that can already be used, which is part of the Femecc Uxus project.

Audiovisual and interactive technology, as well as state-of-the-art control and security solutions broadly configure the design and development of the research project., coordinated by the European Research and Innovation Center (VTT) from Finland and the German manufacturer Rolls-Royce Marine, who brings his experience in interior design and technology for vehicles and cockpits, about what cargo and supply ships and boats will be like, as well as the bridge platforms in the year 2025.

Both companies have worked together in the development of solutions for the equipment of the bridges of the tugboats of the ships, which now goes further and is located ten years from now under the concept of a control room with innovative technologies that are currently on the market, in addition to having the collaboration and proposals of navigation experts, ship captains and crew members.

Command and control cabin

This vision of the cargo ships and bridges of the future is set in a control room or cabin, both on site and remotely, in which captains and technicians will have digital touch screens as work tools that will be projected directly on the ship's windows, virtual displays with augmented reality technology and touch operation controls with biometric retinal and fingerprint identification, plus some ergonomic developments in the cabin chairs, that adapt depending on the weight and body shape of the user.

Also, all devices and systems will adapt to each user, in this case the captain and his technicians, so that they have quick and comfortable access to the entire navigation control platform. In fact, The displays projected on the glass will allow you to detect where each crew member of the ship is in real time, as well as see the route of the ship, radar images, maps and even have night vision thanks to the images captured by thermal cameras.

In this sense, in addition to external thermal video surveillance systems, augmented reality technology offers crew members safer and more versatile navigation, since they will have data on previously hidden and obscure obstacles, to which is added an ice analyzer that indicates whether the planned route in these extreme conditions is safe and viable..

All this technology, available on the market, It could be controlled either from the ship's bridge or from a control room on land and would help improve maritime safety, development of operations and profitability of shipping companies, As those responsible for the project point out.

Fimecc Uxus Project

This configuration of the cargo ships of the future is part of the program Fimecc Uxus, dedicated to improving the user experience when using complex systems, developed in 2012 y 2013 by the Finnish engineering and process company Fimecc Oy.

In this project, Como apunta Maaria Nuutinen, “design experience has been successfully combined, in-depth psychological and operational analysis of tasks and conceptualization of future technological solutions. All of this has been packaged in 3D animated videos, made by the company TrollVFX to inspire and encourage the adoption of this type of solutions based on improving the user experience”.

At the moment, The ongoing Fimecc Uxus project is the one being developed by VTT, Rolls-Royce Marine and Tampere University, which will end in 2015. During this period, tests and improvements will continue to be carried out to determine if the project is viable and can be presented on the market., as long as it is approved by authorized bodies.

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