Samsung Heavy, Successful 'Real Ship' Test of Remote Autonomous Navigation

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Samsung Heavy Industries is gaining attention by showcasing the most advanced technology in the future field of remote autonomous navigation in the shipbuilding and shipping industry.

On the 19th, Samsung Heavy Industries announced that it successfully conducted remote and autonomous navigation of an actual vessel measuring 38 meters in length and weighing 300 tons near the Geoje Shipyard.

Samsung Heavy Industries succeeded in demonstrating its SAS (Samsung Autonomous Ship), a remote autonomous navigation system developed with proprietary technology for the first time in the shipbuilding industry, installed on the tugboat 'SAMSUNG T-8' currently in operation.

SAS analyzes signals from navigation communication equipment installed on the ship, such as RADAR, GPS, and AIS (Automatic Identification System), in real time to recognize surrounding vessels and obstacles, assess collision risk considering the ship's navigation characteristics, and find the optimal avoidance route. It also enables the ship to safely navigate to its destination autonomously through automatic control of propulsion and steering devices.

Notably, through the world's first application of a 360-degree Around View system for ships and LTE/5G mobile communication technology, remote control of the vessel is possible from a distant land-based control center while viewing footage as if looking directly down at the ship from the sky.

During the actual test navigation, the SAMSUNG T-8 safely returned after circling a destination about 10 km away without crew intervention, demonstrating collision avoidance technology that autonomously avoided other vessels or obstacles appearing within a 1 km radius during navigation.

Shim Yong-rae, head of Samsung Heavy Industries’ Shipbuilding and Marine Research Center, stated, "SAS is a safe navigation solution that autonomously searches for optimized routes, reducing the burden on crew members." He added, "We plan to commercialize a more advanced navigation assistance system by 2022 by combining artificial intelligence (AI) technology and ultra-high-speed communication technology."

Meanwhile, Samsung Heavy Industries is advancing as a 'first mover' in the remote autonomous navigation field, having last year succeeded in remote autonomous navigation tests and actual vessel demonstrations using 'EasyGo,' a model ship shaped like an LNG carrier, the first in the industry.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.