Sitronics Group tested an autonomous river electric vessel

2023

Testing of autonomous river electric vessel

Sitronics Group conducted the first tests of an autonomous river electric ship in Russia. The company announced this on November 13, 2023.

To do this, experts adapted proprietary software for use on river ships, and also installed special equipment. During the experiment, the ship followed a given trajectory and carried out turn maneuvers without captain control.

The tests took place in the water area of ​ ​ the Neva at the Emerium shipyard (part of the Sitronics Group) in the Leningrad Region.

The Sitronics KT development team tested several systems at once. In the complex, they analyze the environment, transmit information to the decision-making, maneuvering and control systems of the vessel, which ensures its autonomous movement without the control of the captain.

The core is the Autonomous Navigation System (ANS) hardware and software complex. Routes are laid in the program, and decisions are made in it about the need to diverge from the vessel by obstacles, about changing the trajectory of its movement or stopping.

The Coordinated Control System (CMS) keeps the vessel on a trajectory. The autonomous navigation system transmits to the MCS all the necessary information about the direction and speed of the course, speed of movement of the vessel, steering wheel turns. Based on this data, the program decides to automatically build the necessary parameters for the operation of control systems.

The optical analysis system (OCA) transmits a video image from the vessel to the shore to the control or coordination center of the movement of the river vessel. The computer vision system estimates the situation at 360 ° at a distance of up to 10 nautical miles. The detected objects are identified and applied to the electronic map. The operation of this system allows the operator to connect to the vessel and take control, if necessary in a remote format.

A millimeter radar is installed in the bow of the electric vessel, which detects moving objects within a radius of 300 meters. The inertial navigation system (INS) provides accurate positioning of the autonomous vessel itself on the river.

Initially, our technology was intended for the sea, and we have already tested the decision on several ships of the commercial navy, we are fulfilling contracts for equipping two ferries connecting the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions. And now we have demonstrated the work of the technology on the river on our own electric ship - the first tests were successful. River conditions are much more difficult than at sea - you need to react faster, more obstacles, heavy traffic, traffic density. Therefore, the systems have been adapted for river operation and will be further refined for implementation. I believe that the technology of autonomous navigation both at sea and on rivers has great prospects. It allows you to increase the safety of shipping and its effectiveness, "said Nikolai Pozhidaev, President of Sitronics Group.

Start of delivery of radio navigation equipment complex

The developer of complex intelligent solutions for navigation Sitronics KT began to supply the shipbuilding enterprise with Emperium a set of radio navigation equipment. The company Sitronics announced this on May 3, 2023.

Sitronics KT's portfolio includes developments for autonomous navigation, digital navigation, marine infrastructure, geoinformation systems and equipment, and onshore automatic vessel identification systems. The company produces a large range of AIS equipment that allows you to solve issues of obtaining information about ships in the water area, exchange information, track the condition of the vessel and the situation on the way.

Sitronics KT supplies the entire complex of radio navigation equipment, including its own solutions, for the Sitronics electric ships under construction at the Emperium shipyard.

Sitronics KT plans to expand the supply of complex systems of its own production for electric ships, such as an automatic identification system (AIS), an integrated navigation system (INS), an electronic cartographic navigation and information system (ECNIS), a radar display and others.

Sitronics Group, which includes both companies, notes that this will increase the share of its own solutions in the production of electric ships.

We have been going to this since the shipbuilding enterprise appeared among our business areas in 2022, since the competencies of both subsidiaries are complementary. We set out to launch not only mass mass mass production of innovative electric traction vessels for Russia, but also to make it as independent as possible, including from foreign technologies, "commented Andrey Gurlenov, executive director of Sitronics Electro.