Session B6
Paper #172
Disclaimer—This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the University
of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is based on publicly
available information and may not provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used for any purpose other than
these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the University of
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UNMANNED OCEANIC SHIPPING
Thomas Misciagna, [email protected], Mahboobin 4:00, Kevin Rode, [email protected], Mahboobin 10:00
Abstract - Autonomous shipping will herald a new era in
transporting goods. It allows unmanned marine surface
vessels to ship goods across the world. This method of
transportation takes away the chance for dangerous human
interactions with the ocean environment and pirates, while
also providing people the goods they desire. International
trade is always expanding to encompass more countries, more
goods and higher profits.
Using on shore controls, engineers can eliminate the
need for a crew on a ship and increase the effectiveness of
overseas transit. The navigation of an autonomous ship
requires knowledge of the surroundings the ship must deal
with. Each ship will be equipped with cameras and sensors
that relay specific data to a team on land. The crew on land
can use this data to keep safe control over the ship. The ship
will guide itself using GPS and avoid storms automatically to
ensure safety.
This paper will describe the problems of conventional
shipping and how unmanned shipping will overcome these
problems. The paper will argue for the further investment into
this technology and how improvements in safety and
economics can be made within the current system.
Key Words-Autonomous Shipping, GPS, International Trade,
Marine Surface Vessels, Overseas Shipping
UNMANNED OCEANIC VEHICLES IN AN
INCREASINGLY AUTONOMOUS WORLD
Autonomous vehicles are becoming more prevalent in
our society. The word autonomous is defined by MerriamWebster as “responding, reacting, or developing independently
of the whole” [1]. Vehicles with this technology are capable of
reacting and responding to their environment to navigate an
area. They are not guided or controlled by any person.
Companies have begun implementing autonomous technology
into their services and products. In the city of Pittsburgh, PA,
the company Uber is using autonomous cars to improve on the
conventional taxi. Uber plans to implement this technology to
cities across the continental United States and world in the
future [2]. Amazon is developing drones as a means of
transporting goods directly to consumer’s homes. These are
prime examples of companies embracing autonomous
technology for the future of their respective industries. These
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
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Submission Date 03.31.2017
companies view the transition to autonomous technology as an
improvement over conventional methods [3]. The oceanic
shipping industry is an industry that could use these same
improvements.
Standard shipping methods used today are becoming
outdated with the rise of new autonomous technology. This
technology could be integrated inside of a ship to allow the
ship to travel more efficiently and safely. Most problems that
occur in modern ships are caused by some problem with the
crew, so eliminating the need for a crew on board the ship will
give the potential to fix these problems. There will, however,
be loss of jobs resulting in a change to autonomous ships. This
issue will be discussed later in the paper. In addition to the
advantage of solving these problems with unmanned
capabilities, there is a significant economic advantage of
switching to autonomous technology for shipping companies
and businesses who send goods overseas. Ships with the new
autonomous technology will have the ability to calculate the
most efficient route and communicate with other ships in order
to find a route that will not require any detours. Taking these
advantages into consideration, the use of unmanned oceanic
vehicles as an alternative to conventional shipping should be
pursued further in research and investment.
CONVENTIONAL SHIPPING AS THE
DOMINANT METHOD
Problems with Conventional Shipping
The dominant method in maritime shipment for the last
couple hundred years has been conventional shipping.
Conventional shipping uses a crew that navigates the ship and
keeps all its systems in order. The most common reason for
accidents at sea is fatigue of the deck crew [4]. The deck crew
on board a ship is pressured by long days at sea checking
instruments that are used to keep the ship running effectively.
The deck crew can become fatigued and make mistakes when
checking these systems or securing goods to the ship. For
example, a crew member could become fatigued from working
in the hot sun all day and misread a temperature gauge on a
certain component of the ship. This would lead to overheating
and the ship to not operate at a peak efficiency. This can lead
to problems with machines not running efficiently and the ship
not operating at maximum efficiency. Fatigue can also cause
the crew to not properly respond to a hazardous area that the
Thomas Misciagna
Kevin Rode
ship just entered. The crew on board a ship may not be able to
respond effectively to an emergency such as harsh seas or a
machine malfunctioning. The crew could have trouble thinking
clearly enough to make decisions when they are being knocked
about by the sea and covered in water.
A potential risk besides weather is the threat of pirates.
With “2619 attacks, actual or attempted, over the period 2004–
2011”, piracy is still a problem in the world’s waters [5]. This
number is a sum of all pirate attacks across the entire world.
Modern ships are incapable of dealing with pirate attacks. The
pirates are armed and can pose a major threat to the crew on
board and the company who owns the ship. Most pirate attacks
involve holding crew members hostage for ransom [6]. This
means a crew is in serious danger from the threat of pirates any
time they enter certain waters. Eliminating the crew leaves no
incentive for pirates to attack. This can make shipping goods
across the ocean much safer for people as nobody will be
onboard to capture for ransom. Problems with pirates will
continue to happen in all different forms and a solution must
be made. This solution could come in the form of unmanned
ships.
The economic advantages of unmanned oceanic ships are
plentiful. Autonomous technology allows a ship to calculate
the most efficient course. Humans can calculate an efficient
course but the autonomous ship can make real time corrections
in course with changes in weather that could increase
efficiency by more than what humans could achieve. Having
an unmanned ship also allows the ship to cut weight by
eliminating all of the human features from a boat, such as
places to move around the outside of the ship and places to eat
and sleep. Oskar Levander is the vice president of innovations
at Rolls-Royce, a company on the cutting edge of autonomous
shipping technology. He explains that “moving toward greater
autonomy and unmanned shipping could cut transport costs
22%. The bulk would come from lower staff costs, though such
vessels also would be more fuel efficient by eliminating the
need to carry equipment to support people onboard” [7].
Decreasing excess space and weight like this can increase the
efficiency of the ship because it is not carrying around as much
of a load. This amount might be small but it will add up over
time. Any costs that are cut from a voyage will build up over
the years. This makes any advantage autonomous shipping has
over conventional shipping important to recognize. The crew
can lead to other cost problems as well. "Rising fuel costs in
recent years have meant that slower (and therefore less fuelconsuming) voyages are more economical—but long journeys
are less attractive to crew members, so finding a willing crew
can be difficult and very costly” [8]. An autonomous ship will
not have to worry about how a crew will respond to long
voyages out on the sea, or getting a crew to work the ship for
the long distance travel. The ship will be able to take longer in
its voyage to be more efficient. This is especially important as
“the industry estimates that 44 percent of freighter costs are
associated with human crews" [8]. Eliminating the crew from
on board a ship will allow these costs to become non existent
for the shipping corporations. Unmanned ships can also
eliminate the costs of piracy as well. It is estimated that the
annual cost of piracy just off the coast of Somalia is “between
$1 billion and $16 billion” [5]. This is another huge cost that
could be eliminated by autonomous shipping. As discussed
before, pirates will not be able to take control of autonomous
ships or capture crew members for ransom. These economic
benefits in conjunction with safety improvements and
solutions to conventional shipping problems are what make
unmanned oceanic shipping a technology that should be
pursued more in the future. Increased investment into
autonomous technology in the maritime industry could lead to
growth and improvements in the industry as a whole. The
future of the industry could be vastly improved with the
integration of autonomous technology.
How Unmanned is an Advantage
Unmanned shipping overcomes the problems that
conventional shipping has, while improving upon
conventional shipping methods. An autonomous ship uses no
onboard crew so the fatigue that causes most accidents on
manned ships would be eliminated completely on autonomous
ships. In the place of crew members, there are sensors that
monitor the equipment to make sure everything is in working
order. These sensors communicate with the brain of the ship
and a crew on land [4]. Having no crew and sensors that
monitor the ship can allow the ship to operate at full efficiency
and eliminate human error. In the event of an emergency, the
team on land could use the sensors in tandem with cameras on
board to solve a problem. The team would not be in any danger
from a storm or threat of pirates if they are monitoring the ship
from land. Unmanned shipping uses no crew members so the
crew is not in danger from the pirate’s attacks. This is crucial
as “in February 2011, 31 vessels and 700 people were held
hostage as part of a ‘capture-to-ransom’ business model” [5].
The threat of pirates on crew members could be avoided with
the integration of autonomous technology. The crew members
could be safe however the cargo on an unmanned vessel would
seem like an easy target. To solve this, the ship could be
designed in a way to make the cargo very difficult to access
and the ship difficult to navigate onboard. Because the ship
requires no crew on board, it could have a completely smooth
outside with no area for pirates to climb aboard. The design of
the ship would have no platforms to stand on and no way of
manual control. The pirates would not be able to board the
autonomous ship or steer the ship around. The team monitoring
the ship on land could then signal the coast guard to respond
to the pirate attack. The pirates would only disrupt travel and
not cause any significant threat or harm.
CONCEPTS OF HOW THE TECHNOLOGY
WORKS
Controlling these unmanned vehicles involves physics
and mathematical principles. It is essential to understand
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exactly how the ship moves through the water in order to
program a computer that will allow the ship to operate
autonomously. The ship’s computer will respond to changes
using given equations. These equations will allow the ship to
adjust given variables such as velocity or rudder angle to keep
the ship on a steady course. The basic motion of the ship can
be observed through Newton’s Second Law, which compares
the pitch the ship has to how much it is swaying and how fast
it is surging through the water [9]. Newton’s Second Law in
its most basic form is F=ma. It relates the forces (F) on a given
object such as thrust from a motor and waves pushing on a ship
to the actual motion given as the acceleration (a) and the mass
of the ship (m). When the ship is cruising at a nearly constant
surge speed and only the first order approximations of the
viscous damping are being considered, a linear parametrically
varying approximation of the steering dynamics is applicable
[9]. Figure 1 is displayed below and shows the equation for this
case.
The sway is an equation of motion in the y-direction which
describes the ship as it moves left and right. The yaw is a
rotational force which requires the moment of inertia for the
ship in its motion equation. Finding the moment of inertia for
a complex shape such as a ship can be very complicated.
Therefore, computer programs must be used to solve these
complex equations. Each motion is a specific breakdown of the
ship’s overall motion.
FIGURE 2 [9]
Equations for the motion of the ship as it moves through
the water in a variety of different motions
Figure 3 below illustrates the surge, sway, and yaw and
how they relate to the movement of the ship. Surge is the
forward or backward movement of the ship. Sway is how the
ship is moving left or right. Yaw is how the ship is twisting
about a vertical axis that is perpendicular to the ship.
FIGURE 1 [9]
Equation for the applied force of the ship as it moves
through the water.
In Figure 1, M is the inertia matrix and it includes all
mass that is added to the ship. C(v) is the Coriolis matrix,
which is the inertia force relative to a rotating reference frame.
The variable v is the velocity vector of the rigid body, which
in this case is the ship itself. This equation is equal to τ, which
is the force in three-dimension space that will become the
control vector in this scenario. When all the variables are put
together the information becomes very complex because each
dynamic is non-linear. These aspects make it quite
complicated to obtain a mathematical model which would
properly represent the dynamics of the ship with an analytical
approach [9]. Each multiplication has to be a form of vector
multiplication involving cross-products since multiple
matrices are involved. Each matrix comes from the
multiplication of a vector in a given direction with another
vector. This can become more complicated than the equation
looks at first because using a three dimensional systems
requires use of vectors in each x, y and z direction. The
equation must be solved in each component direction and then
summed together using vector addition to find the equivalent
force, τ, that is being solved for.
In Figure 2, the following equations can be derived from
the equation in Figure 1 to find equations for surge, sway, and
yaw, which are each possibility of movement. In these
equations m is the mass of the ship, u and v are the surge and
sway velocities respectively, and r is the ship’s angular
velocity, or the rate at which the rotation or yaw is changing.
The variable xG the x-axis coordinate of the center of gravity,
and IZ is the moment of inertia about the z-axis which in this
case is the yaw rotation. The surge is the motion in the xdirection which is the direction in which the ship is pointed.
FIGURE 3 [9]
A three-dimensional visual that displays what the
equations in Figure 2 relate to in space
Figure 4 gives a better explanation of what each of the
components of the ship in the equation are doing. This figure
shows a schematic representation of the ship in an xy-plane,
where ψd represents the desired heading angle or orientation of
the ship and δ is the rudder position. The ship is placed in a
two dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. The coordinate
system given by Xo and Yo is used to find the coordinates of
the ship in the water, while the coordinate system composed of
X, Y and Z is used to describe the ship’s motion.
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The knowledge based systems used to let the autonomous
ships systems run smoothly are called fuzzy logic controllers.
Fuzzy logic controllers are able to turn a linguistic control
strategy into automatic controls using expert knowledge [9].
Fuzzy control “makes it possible to control complex systems,
such marine vessels, even in uncertain environments”
[9]. Fuzzy logic controllers take in data that is collected, in
this case how the ship is travelling, and put the information
through a set system of analysis where the information is
transformed into a new output. The ship operator will be
provided that output, through the Wi-Fi connection to the ship
and give directions for what the ship should do next. Most of
the time the fuzzy logic controller is used to determine the
rudder angle that would be most efficient for getting the ship
to its destination at the current instant.
The definition of fuzzy sets are what a fuzzy inference
system is based on. A set is a “collection of things that belong
to some definition” [10]. They can be defined as belonging (in
binary code, 1) or not belonging (in binary code, 0). This is
shown in Figure 5 below. In the example shown, the set is used
to determine whether or not someone is tall. A person who is
tall in this case is defined to be belonging; therefore their
degree of membership is 1. A shorter person is defined to not
belong, resulting in a degree of membership of 0.
FIGURE 4 [9]
Two-dimensional graphical representation of the
movements of the ship
Using these equations, the engineers designing the ship
will be able to calculate how the ship is currently travelling.
They will be able to turn the ship into a three dimensional point
in space and track its movement across the ocean. Each
equation serves a different purpose and its values can change
at any moment. The equations each describe motion in
different directions and engineers can change certain variables
such as velocity or rudder angle to change the ship’s motion.
This way they can make sure the ship stays in its course and
reaches its destination with the highest efficiency. To find the
angle at which the rudder must be facing to turn the
autonomous ship, intelligent and conventional strategies are
used. This equation relates the angle of the current course of
the ship to its velocity and current acceleration [9]. “The
desired rudder angle and surge speed are commanded through
a Wi-Fi connection between the ship and the control station at
land” [9]. The ship takes in the inputted rudder angle and surge
speed. It then uses the new values to change its course. The
Wi-Fi connection would be relayed through the use of
satellites. In 2016, Inmarsat, a satellite-services company,
launched a new service to provide ship operators with
improved connectivity [7]. The new satellites increase the
bandwidth and make the connection more secure so that
hacking into the ship will be much harder to do. This is vital to
the ship’s functionality. A crew on land must be able to
communicate with the ship in order to adjust its course and the
ship must be able to connect to satellites to use its GPS. The
crew must know the location of the ship at all times to ensure
proper course and the systems on board the ship must be
monitored closely through the use of satellite connectivity. The
new technology would allow the ship operator to closely
monitor the engine, rudder position, navigation, and other
functions of the ship.
FIGURE 5 [10]
Traditional sets measure degree of membership
in a binary set
Fuzzy sets are sets where every element has a degree of
membership. That means every variable in a set is defined to
be a value and not forced to be in just one category or the other.
This can be shown in Figure 6. The figure illustrates that a tall
person is not defined as just tall but has a degree of member of
0.95 meaning that they are definitely a tall person. A small
person has a degree of membership of 0.30 meaning that they
are not close to being tall. This example gives a degree of
membership that is in between the values for tall and not tall
defined in Figure 5 above. A fuzzy set ends up forming a
continuous function for height values.
Fuzzy Logic Controllers
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conditions of the ocean. The technological mechanics of the
ships are highly important from an engineering standpoint as
they apply directly to making the technology work in an
efficient way so that it will be effective when put to use.
CHALLENGES OF UNMANNED SHIPPING
Challenges are inevitable in all engineering projects and
unmanned oceanic shipping is not an exception. When
working with a new technology such as autonomous operation,
there are many unknown challenges that will arise. Most of
these challenges will arise during testing of the ships, but there
are several important challenges that engineers must face to
allow unmanned ships to advance in the future. The first of
these challenges is finding a way to make the autonomous
ships at least as safe as existing ships [11]. One of the reasons
to pursue unmanned shipping is that it is safer than
conventional shipping. In a perfect world this is true, but at
first, autonomous ships will have unseen problems that need to
be solved. Once these initial problems are dealt with, then the
autonomous ships will be able to operate with less error than
conventional ships.
The integration of autonomous ships into the shipping
network of the world will be gradual. All ships will not just
suddenly become autonomous all at once. This requires careful
planning of how autonomous ships will interact with manned
ships out on the water. If a manned vessel needs an
autonomous ship to move out of the way, then the manned
vessel needs some way to communicate with that ship. This
will require a link between whoever is controlling the ship on
shore and the manned vessel at sea. The team who is
controlling the unmanned vessel at sea must also take control
when navigating any complex ports. When a ship enters port,
it will have many obstacles to navigate. There will be the area
to dock in but there will also be other ships around that may or
may not be autonomous. The ship must be loaded with cameras
and sensors on its sides to allow someone on shore to monitor
the ship’s location and make any necessary corrections.
Similar to air traffic control, someone will have to be
monitoring the unmanned vessel as it comes into or out of port.
Once the integration of autonomous ships has happened
then measures must be made so that ships will be protected
from cyber threats. In the 21st century, cyber security is vital.
Autonomous ships must be protected against any sort of hack
against their system [11]. It would be detrimental to any
company if their ship was taken over by a cyber-attack.
Prevention methods would be researched while the technology
is being implemented into the ships. If any research has been
done already into cybersecurity for autonomous ships, then it
has not been released yet. The future for unmanned oceanic
shipping is bright but these challenges must be faced before
any progress can be made.
FIGURE 6 [10]
This graph shows that fuzzy sets have the degree of
member be a continuous function unlike traditional sets
The fuzzy inference system uses fuzzy sets to formulate
human knowledge to calculate outputs of the system. The
fuzzy sets are inputted in a process called fuzzyfication. The
fuzzy sets go through a decision-making logic process that has
a set rule system. The rules are designed using the knowledge
of an expert in the operation of fuzzy logic systems. These
rules are what transform certain inputs into something that the
fuzzy control can use. The next step is fuzzy interference. In
this step, certain values such as the max-min or max-product
are selected using inductive reasoning [9]. Those results come
out of this set as another fuzzy set. The final step in the fuzzy
inference system is called defuzzyfication. This step converts
the outputted fuzzy set into distinct values. This process can be
shown in Figure 7. The distinct values outputted are then used
by the ship operator to determine what they should do to make
the ship sail in a more efficient and safer manner.
FIGURE 7 [9]
A fuzzy logic controller goes through a set series of steps
Fuzzy logic controllers are a crucial part of getting the
technology of the unmanned oceanic ships to work. The
controller allows the process of steering one of these ships to
be much simpler. The fuzzy logic is what allows the operator
to input certain parameters such as a GPS location of where the
ship is headed and output a rudder angle that allows the ship to
get there. Fuzzy logic is also an important step in making a
completely autonomous ship. The fuzzy logic controller is the
decision-making part of the ship that allows the ship to steer
itself and take the most efficient route. It makes decisions
based upon input from the sensors mounted on the ship and can
adjust rudder angle and velocity dependent on different
THE FUTURE OF THE TECHNOLOGY
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The future sees autonomous technology increasing in
strength and usage. As mentioned before, Uber and Amazon
are two prime examples of autonomous technology being
integrated into our modern society. Unmanned oceanic
shipping has a similar future ahead. The company Rolls-Royce
made a statement that said “autonomous shipping is the future
of the maritime industry. As disruptive as the smartphone, the
smart ship will revolutionize the landscape of ship design and
operations” [11]. Rolls-Royce is a company on the cutting
edge of unmanned oceanic shipping and their researchers are
delving further into the use of autonomous technology on their
ships. The company has several important steps laid out over
the next 20 years. These steps are key components of
autonomous shipping that must be taken to allow the industry
to grow in the coming years. Rolls-Royce engineers plan on
making a ship with reduced crew and remote operation
functions by 2020, an unmanned remote coastal vessel by
2025, a remote controlled ocean vessel by 2030 and a fully
autonomous, unmanned ocean going ship by 2035 [11].
Because autonomous technology has yet to be
implemented in any industry on a large scale, the transition
from conventional to autonomous shipping must be a gradual
one. Autonomous technology is still in its infancy and its slow
implementation is necessary for success. The engineers at
Rolls-Royce need to spend time with the development of
autonomous ships to ensure that all potential problems are
solved. They must test the ships and technology in the real
world to adequately develop a working design. Rolls-Royce is
one of the leaders in autonomous shipping technology and
their plan for the future is an indicator of where the whole
industry will go. With this solid plan of action for the future of
unmanned oceanic shipping, the technology and industry as a
whole should be invested in to further push the research into
capabilities of autonomous ships and reap the benefits that
come with them.
autonomous technology. There will still be a demand for
workers who can load these autonomous ships and help
maintain them. Maintenance jobs for autonomous ships will be
needed since autonomous ships operate much different
compared to conventional ships. There is no chance that
autonomous shipping will create more engineering and design
jobs than the jobs that the new technology would be taking
away from the workforce.
While the job market for autonomous shipping is
unsustainable the economic value it brings to the table is quite
the opposite. The technology would be able to cut costs for
companies by 22% [7]. The companies would make back the
money they spent on making the autonomous ship easily after
only a few years and then they could start turning a profit and
be able to lower the average shipping cost. This benefits the
consumer because shipping costs will continue to drop making
the price sustainably less from the cost now. Autonomous
shipping will create a new growth market for shipping. The
industry, when it catches on, will continue to grow sustainably
with more and more companies trying to integrate the
technology into their own systems of shipping. The cost
benefits of autonomous shipping cause this new shipping
technology to be more economically sustainable.
Autonomous shipping is also good for the environment.
Every year there are shipwrecks that cause goods to be dumped
into the ocean and parts of the ship as well. These objects
pollute the ocean and can be harmful to the species living down
below where the ship wreckage is. With the technology used
in autonomous ships, the chance of a ship wreck happening is
severely decreased. The ship operator will be able to move the
ship to safety if it gets into a rough patch of weather or any
other type of emergency. Additionally, there will be no
humans on board the ship to allow human waste to get disposed
of in the ocean. Therefore, human waste can be completely
taken out of the equation. The ship operators will also be able
to tell the best path the ship can take to get to where it is going.
This will majorly cut down on fuel consumption since there
will no more guess work involved in the ship’s route [11]. Air
pollution from ships will be cut down since there is less fuel
consumption. These reasons show that unmanned ships much
more sustainable to the ocean and the air.
The technology used in autonomous shipping is still new
and nothing is set in stone. Models of ships are in the process
of being built but nothing is for commercial sale yet.
Researchers are still trying to find ways to make the
technology more sustainable. When the final product is put
together some of the issues of sustainability will be solved by
these researchers. The researchers and the company designing
the ships’ goal is to make the technology appeal to the public’s
eye. The loss of jobs will be a big hit to the likelihood of the
public’s approval so they will need to make up for it by having
lots of sustainability in other phases of the project.
AUTONMOUS SHIPPING’S SUSTAINABLE
IMPACT
It is no secret that autonomous shipping will cause a loss
in jobs in the shipping industry. There are roughly 1.2 billion
jobs that depend on convention shipping methods around the
world [8]. There will be plenty of people building and
designing new models of unmanned vessels, but there will be
no need for a crew to be onboard. However, the process of the
technology being integrated into the ships will not happen
overnight [4]. It will happen over the course of several years
and will be small gradual changes similar to driver assistant
systems in cars [4]. It will be twenty to thirty years before ships
will be able to travel on their own with no crew [8]. Over time
the job market in the field of shipping once unmanned vessels
are introduced will deplete, but it will take a significant amount
of time for all that to occur. However, this still means that its
job market is unsustainable. It is important to note that not
every job that has to do with shipping will be eliminated by
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Kevin Rode
As the need for trading goods between countries
increases, the demand for those goods to arrive faster and safer
also goes up. Autonomous shipping will accomplish just that.
Conventional shipping has problems with piracy, inefficient
work crews, and machine malfunctions. Unmanned oceanic
shipping is safer than traditional shipping because piracy will
not have a major impact on autonomous ships and there will
be no human lives at stake on board the ship. Autonomous
shipping cuts costs for the companies as ransoms from piracy
will decrease and voyages will become more efficient. There
are challenges for autonomous shipping such as maintaining
safety with manned ships, deciding how autonomous ships will
dock in complex ports, and cyber threats. These problems will
be solved by the time these unmanned ships hit the water for
companies to use. The plans that companies such as RollsRoyce are using ensure that unmanned ships will be capable of
operating safer and more efficiently than conventional ships.
Remote controlled ships will start to exist around 2025 and
there will be fully autonomous ships by 2035 according to
Rolls-Royce’s plans. With the safety and economic benefits of
unmanned oceanic shipping, the research behind autonomous
technology should be invested in and increased to capture
these benefits and help the entire maritime shipping industry.
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ADDITIONAL SOURCES
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[3] D. Schneider. “Air Traffic Control for Delivery Drones.”
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END GOALS OF UNMANNED OCEANIC
SHIPPING AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN THE
MODERN WORLD
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&sid=4d19fca7-5526-4065-8b4f1a36dfda557a%40sessionmgr105&hid=123
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7
Thomas Misciagna
Kevin Rode
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank our co-chair, Kelly Larson, for
all her help with planning and guidance in writing our paper.
Thomas Misciagna would also like to thank his roommate,
Luke Kreider, for the helpful discussions about each other’s
conference papers.
8
Session B6
Paper #172
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
9
Submission Date 03.31.2017
Session B6
Paper #172
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
10
Submission Date 03.31.2017
Session B6
Paper #172
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
11
Submission Date 03.31.2017
Thomas Misciagna
Kevin Rode
12