ABSTRACT
A model-scale platform for development and testing of the autonomous ship technology is being built at the Faculty of Logistics and Maritime Technology of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK). The platform, called ELSA, consists of a model-scale ship equipped with electric motor driven propulsion, batteries and solar panels. The 8, 4 meter ship, Kaisa, was originally a 1:15 scale towing model of a passenger cruise ship. Kaisa will be equipped with a comprehensive set of navigation equipment complemented with machine vision cameras and a lidar (Light Detection And Ranging) sensor. The real-time navigation data, the visual image and the lidar data is transmitted via a 4G communication link to the remote control centre, which is located in the main building of the Faculty of Logistics and Maritime Technology of SAMK. The remote control centre is equipped with displays for real-time presentation of the visual image from the onboard cameras and the control panels for remote manual steering of the vessel. The computers for target detection, decision making and automatic track control will be located in the remote control centre. Different ways of using this cost-effective model-scale platform for demonstration, development and testing purposes, as well as for the education of engineers and seafarers at SAMK, are discussed in the end of this paper.
