Regulatory Requirements on the Competence of Remote Operator in Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship: Situation Awareness, Ship Sense and Goal-Based Gap Analysis

Masanori Yoshida,Masashi Sugomori,Etsuro Shimizu,Ayako Umeda

doi:10.3390/app10238751

Abstract

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) has been developed recently, and demonstration projects have been carried out internationally. Considering the full autonomous level is unlikely to be addressed shortly, remote control centre and Remote Operator (RO) will play a vital role in the MASS system. Although competence of watchkeeping at the ship’s bridge is inevitable for RO to avoid ship accidents caused by human errors, international requirements have not been introduced yet. This paper presents a way to develop the regulatory framework on the competence of RO based on the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) by exploring the concept of Situation Awareness (SA). Goal-Based Gap Analysis (GBGA) is constructed based on the human-behaviour model and the required information for SA. A case study through the mini focus group discussion with interviews by a total of three (3) veteran instructors of training ships is conducted utilising the information including the results of previous demonstration projects on the remote control. The results show the relationship between required information and ship sense, shortage of these factors when RO is operating, additional competence and possible regulatory requirements for RO. The findings support the usefulness of GBGA and pave the way to develop a regulatory framework for RO further.

Highlights

The recent remarkable development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)has had a large effect on the maritime domain
The items were limited to the ones that OOWs actively use for acquiring the required information for Level 1 Situation Awareness (SA) ‘at this moment’ under the assumed condition in Section 4.2 because the results would diverge depending on the time duration for perception and situation
Goal-Based Gap Analysis (GBGA) model was demonstrated by a case study in which experts were made mini focus group discussions with interviews

Summary

Introduction

The recent remarkable development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Has had a large effect on the maritime domain. Shipping companies have introduced a number of automated and communication systems in their commercial vessels to improve cost-effective operation as well as to reduce the crew’s workload and stress. The movement has already come to an ‘autonomous’ and ‘unmanned’ level, which is defined as Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS). Finferries and Rolls-Royce (currently Kongsberg) conducted a demonstration project on the autonomous ship in 2018 [1]. Yara International plans to operate a totally unmanned commercial ship in Norway, the plan has been suspended [2]. Nippon Foundation started a new demonstration project to promote unmanned commercial ships in 2020 to operate them in 2025 [3]

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Conclusion