No abstract

This study describes the actuation design and construction of an unmanned scale model inland vessel of type CEMT-I. This proposed design could help to increase the competitiveness of smaller inland vessels which are slowly diminishing. Moreover, this idea aligns with the ambition of the European Commission to increase the cargo flow over waterborne transport. Therefore, this study scaled down a recently designed barge of the European project Watertruck+. These barges have a 360-degrees-steerable steering grid in the bow together with a 360-degrees-steerable four-channel thruster at the stern. This configuration unlocks new and more advanced motion control possibilities compared to conventional actuation systems. The performance of this actuation design, at different propeller speeds and angles, was experimentally identified for the scale model. Furthermore, the implemented back-seat driver control paradigm is discussed at its two levels of implementation. Firstly, the lowest level control, to reach certain desired sytem states, is shown. Secondly, the higher level control, the autonomy system provided by the MOOS-IvP software, is discussed and its interaction with the low level control is demonstrated. The authors believe that the combination of this actuation and control design can unlock new cargo transport opportunities for the European inland waterways.

European inland waterways represent an underutilised avenue of transport. Increased use of this avenue has the possibility to decrease emissions and remove traffic from congested roadways. However, there is a shortage of skilled shippers and labour costs threaten to make waterway transport economically unviable. By creating smart ships, the requirement for skilled shippers decreases. The Hull-to-Hull (H2H) project, part of the European Horizon 2020 program, aims to do this through various methods, one of which is the creation of a smart ship navigation system. This system makes use of uncertainty zones in its display and control software to assist a vessel’s helmsman in making safe navigation decisions. Based on the ship’s dynamics and current operating scenario, the uncertainty zones will change shape and size, and different notifications will be given to the helmsman based on the overlapping of the uncertainty zones. This paper focusses on the uncertainty zone based navigation system currently being developed for the inland waterway use case.