World's First Land-Sea Autonomous Ship Performance Test Site... Ulsan City, Performance Verification Center Completion Ceremony

Ulsan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The 'Autonomous Ship Performance Demonstration Center,' which will create new growth engines for Ulsan's main industry, the shipbuilding and marine industry, has been completed and is entering full-scale operation.

Ulsan City announced that it will hold a completion ceremony for the demonstration center at 3 p.m. on the 3rd at Goneul District, Ilsan-dong, Dong-gu, jointly organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

The completion ceremony will be attended by about 100 people, including Ulsan Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom, City Council Chairman Kim Ki-hwan, National Assembly member Kwon Myung-ho, officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and Kim Bu-gi, director of the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering. The event will include an introduction to the autonomous ship sea performance test vessel and a tour of the facilities.

The demonstration center was built to verify the autonomous ship technology development project jointly promoted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

A total project cost of 21.9 billion KRW was invested, and construction began in November last year. It was completed in September this year on a 9,128㎡ site in Ilsan-dong, Dong-gu, with a total floor area of 1,278㎡, consisting of one basement floor and three above-ground floors.

The first floor houses a simulation-based testbed room, the second floor contains a big data server room, and the third floor includes a digital twin bridge engine monitoring room and an integrated control room for sea trial operations.

With the completion of the Autonomous Ship Performance Demonstration Center, an environment and infrastructure have been established to develop, test, evaluate, and verify core technologies of autonomous ships. Using a simulation-based verification system and real-sea test system, performance verification of autonomous ship technologies and demonstrations of intelligent navigation systems and engine automation systems will accumulate data on sea trials, operations, and ship performance, which can be provided to shipping companies, shipyards, and ship equipment manufacturers.

This is expected to create new growth engines for the shipbuilding and marine industry, serve as a research hub for next-generation future ships, foster an industrial ecosystem, secure leadership in future markets, and strengthen the competitiveness of Ulsan's main industry, the shipbuilding and marine industry.

Ulsan Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom said, "The completion of the Autonomous Ship Performance Demonstration Center is not only significant as the world's first land and sea autonomous ship performance test site for verifying autonomous ship technology performance but also more importantly lays the foundation for competition to secure leadership in the future ship market."

The autonomous ship sea performance test vessel is 25 meters long, 5.4 meters wide, weighs 60 tons, and can carry 15 people. It is equipped with various devices and systems developed in the autonomous ship technology development project, conducts evaluation and verification through real-sea tests, and will also be used to verify the performance of various advanced shipbuilding and marine equipment to be developed in the future.

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