E-GNSS use for Autonomous Vessels: Value Proposition & Market Aspects

Abstract

Recent technological developments have encouraged the development and implementation of autonomous systems in areas ranging from military surveillance (i.e. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs) to civilian transport. There are several examples of land-based applications using autonomous control concepts to meet current and envisaged future competitiveness, safety and sustainability challenges. In the case of maritime transport, next generation modular control systems and communications technology will enable wireless monitoring and control functions both on and off board. These will include advanced decision support systems to provide a capability to operate ships remotely under semi or fully autonomous control. Ship Intelligence will be the next major transition for the shipping industry as ships are set to become more complex and will require high levels of data analysis to operate on-board systems to manage propulsion, navigation and potentially lead to autonomous vessels. No persons are expected on board for the whole or part of the voyage. The ship, with partial help from remote control centre, must be able to manage the voyage on its own. In this context, EGUS (E-GNSS User Support) Specific Contract 4 (SC4) aims at supporting to GSA in the Market Development of Autonomous Vessels and Off-Shore applications, focusing in the use of E-GNSS for these applications. EGUS project is funded and managed by GSA (European GNSS Agency), being the industrial partners Ineco (prime), ESSP and GMV. GMV is in charge of the analysis of Autonomous Vessels, which is the aim of this paper. More specifically, the activities to be performed within EGUS SC4 on autonomous vessels navigation are focused on Oceanic/Deep Sea and Coastal Waters Navigation, and are following the next strategy: • Development of Market Assessment & Value Proposition of using E-GNSS in Autonomous Vessels, including the steps included below: o Overview of the Autonomous Vessels o Identification of requirements o Identification of GNSS value chain proposition: identification of potential technologies/services and added E-GNSS value (e.g. Galileo authentication service, SBAS integrity at system and user levels) o Market status and evolution • Elaboration of a SWOT & CBA of using E-GNSS in Autonomous Vessels, to analyse the feasibility of the adoption of E-GNSS in such technology • Preparation of an action plan for adoption, taking into account boundaries conditions and including as main axis the action plan of further development of E-GNSS In order to evaluate the potential use of E-GNSS for autonomous vessel applications, an estimation of the level of performance that could be achieved with such GNSS is to be conducted as part of the project. To this aim, a tool developed by GMV in the frame of EC´s PROSBAS project is to be used. This prototype allows the performance assessment not only for EGNOS V2 but also with its evolution EGNOS V3, implements SBAS L1/L5 capabilities and has been specifically prepared for maritime users. The use of this tool will allow analysing if such performance will fulfil the user requirements for the autonomous vessels application. The aim of this paper is to provide a summary of the activities developed so far as part of EGUS SC4, including the analyses of performance developed and a summary of the main outcomes of the surveys/interviews performed within the project as part of the market status and evolution analysis.