BAE Systems is in the process of developing and testing a new technology to monitor ship’s equipment, fuel, and energy performance to assist with strategic decision-making and optimise efficient operations and ship maintenance.
The Ship Energy Assessment – Condition Optimisation & Routing Enhancement System (SEA-CORES) has been designed to meet the increasing complexities of the UK Royal Navy and other commercials organisations by analysing the large amounts of data they produce in real-time.
The software analyses the trim and vibration of the vessel, its hull and superstructure state, and takes into account environmental conditions such as weather in order to advise strategies using genetic algorithms to optimise ship performance.
SEA-CORES can also be used in combination with BAE System’s Ship Energy Assessment System (SEAS) and System Information Exploitation (EIE) technology to connect fuel and engine optimisation to model the relationships between the different systems on a ship.
The research project, which is sponsored by Innovate UK, is being carried out with researchers from, the University of Southampton and James Fisher and Sons, while Fugro and OSISoft UK are serving as the technology suppliers.
BAE System’s Head of Engineering and Energy Services, Chris Courtaux commented: “For instance, reducing speed may save fuel, but could increase the wear to the engine if it sails below its optimum speed. Providing real-time data about the impact of such decisions can help the operator to reduce fuel consumption and minimise wear on the engine, helping to save costs and increase the availability of the fleet to fulfil operational commitments.”
The technology is being tested on a commercial tanker supplied by James Fisher and Sons in Northern Europe, and will be carried out until the end of this year.
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