With the support of Aeromarine, Fred.Olsen Express, a Canary Island-based ferry company, operating ropaxes and fast ferries, is upgrading its safety equipment by installing SEA.AI, an artificial intelligence-based anti-collision technology, on its ships.
Down the years, human watch systems have developed and are today defined in the collision regulations (COLREGs). For seafarers, they have been augmented by internationally agreed systems, including lights, shapes and sounds on vessels, buoys and lighthouses.
In more recent times, huge advancements have been made in electronics, such as radar, AIS with the possibility of overlaying data on electronic charts (ENCs).
By harnessing latest technologies, such as ‘machine vision’ and AI to help fill in a gap in the human and electronic systems using SEA.AI, short to medium range collision avoidance for the first time becomes ‘intelligent’, the company claimed.
At present, AIS can show and identify maritime traffic, superimposed on an ENC that in turn indicates fixed features such buoys, beacons and other navigational marks.
SEA.AI is able to alert navigators and officers on the bridge to everything else floating on the water that has not been identified by the other systems. Crucially, it can identify targets and can automatically determine what is a potential collision risk and what isn’t.
To achieve this, it uses an externally mounted unit, typically fitted at the highest point on the ship. This unit has two high resolution daylight cameras capable of operating in the lowest light and contrast situations.
In addition, it has two thermal cameras, accurate to 0.05 deg C which enable SEA.AI to function at night. The cameras are both gyro and digitally stabilised to provide a constant watch 360 deg around the vessel.
SEA.AI’s cameras’ outputs eliminate the digital ‘noise’ of the sea to determine potential targets in real time. The visual and thermal signatures of these targets are then compared to those within SEA.AI’s ever-growing proprietary database of millions of annotated marine objects.
This process harnesses the latest machine vision technology and deep learning capabilities to enabling SEA.AI to provide the most comprehensive digital interpretation of a vessel’s surroundings.
Its output can be shown on a bridge display or on a computer or tablet. Once potential collisions have been determined, SEA. AI will automatically alert the crew. The system is stand-alone and requires no internet connection.
With its cameras suitably mounted, SEA.AI’s Sentry (aimed at commercial and military ships) will identify larger vessels not fitted with AIS up to a range of 7.5 km; smaller craft, such as local fishing boats, dinghies and inflatables up to 3 km and buoys and potentially dangerous flotsam up to 700 m away.
This latter feature, assisted by its thermal cameras, makes the SEA.AI Sentry an invaluable tool in man overboard search and rescue situations, the company said.
Launched in 2018, SEA.AI was inspired by collision avoidance technology developed for the automotive industry.
Initially it was tested in the maritime world on-board short handed racing yachts competing in round-the-world races, such as the Vendée Globe. Its product line has since developed with tailored equipment targeting all areas of the maritime sector.
Fred.Olsen has tested SEA.AI and was attracted by the gap it fills in their collision avoidance equipment and also by the high resolution of its imagery, which on its own is a vital ingredient in the process of identifying potential targets.
“This camera [SEA.AI] already has some incredible innovations because the technology has allowed us to incorporate more things [such as the visual validation of radar targets]. It has artificial intelligence, and it has imaging software that inform us of what we are seeing. At the end of the day, even though all high-speed ships are required to have two officers maintaining a constant look-out, it [SEA.AI] is like having a third officer also looking, because as soon as it detects any object it gives you a warning saying something is there,” said Ivan Fernandez, Head of the Technical Department at Fred.Olsen Express.
“We are happy for SEA.AI to make its debut in the commercial fast ferry sector with Fred.Olsen Express. We thank them for their trust and their assistance in helping us to develop SEA.AI so it’s features can be put to the most effective use by vessels such as theirs. We hope our equipment will improve the safety of all their ships and their passengers,” added Diogo Arreda, Country Manager and Business Developer at SEA.AI.
This utilisation of AI and machine vision in collision avoidance is expected to set a benchmark for other operators in the industry, highlighting the importance of continuous improvement and adoption of cutting-edge technologies to enhance safety at sea, the company added.
