Functional Requirements for Onshore Operation Centers to Support Remotely Operated Ships

Abstract

Autonomous shipping has received extensive attention from the maritime industry as well as the respective research, academic and training institutes, owing to its major benefits related to cost and safety over traditional shipping in many situations. In reality, the implementation of autonomous technology in shipping can face numerous challenges from the technology and regulatory perspectives. Adopting onshore operation centers (OOCs) for monitoring and control support is envisaged to alleviate these challenges and assist in obtaining broader acceptance of autonomous navigation from the maritime industry. The primary role of OOCs is to provide monitoring, guidance, and support for autonomous vessel operations from navigational and operational perspectives through remote human operators. Advanced sensors, communication technologies, and AI-based algorithms are envisioned as the foundation of OOCs to support remotely controlled operations. These centers enable remote human operators to monitor and control the vessels from onshore, i.e., without being physically present on the ship bridge. To develop OOCs that can provide support for autonomous ship operations, i.e., remotely in critical navigation situations, there is a need to identify its navigational, and operational requirements, i.e., functional requirements, and that has been the main contribution of this study. These functional requirements can further be considered under remote control technology that is available in both onboard ships and onshore OOCs. The technology, navigational, and operational requirements are identified as the main functional requirements for OOCs and that can be significantly different from the traditional shipping industrial technologies and operations. To implement robust monitoring, guidance, and support applications in OOCs, essential requirements must be identified according to the needs of remotely controlled ships, as discussed in this study. Furthermore, these functional requirements of OOCs, i.e., technology, navigational and operational requirements, are further discussed with respect to key pillars of autonomous shipping, i.e., technology, human-AI interactions, and regulatory aspects of shipping.