SafeNav Project Aims to Enhance Safer Navigation at Sea with a Groundbreaking Digital Solution

The SafeNav (Safer Navigation) project, co-funded by the European Commission and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), officially launches on 1st September 2022. The € 8 million maritime safety project promises a path towards safer and more secure navigation for the navigator on the bridge today and then moving towards remote-operated and autonomous shipping. Offshore Monitoring Limited (OSM), as the project lead, will oversee the project management, coordination, and overall technical development of the 3-year project.

The SafeNav inventor, Capt. Jorgen Grindevoll, highlights that SafeNav project’s ambition is to develop and test a highly innovative collision prevention solution that will significantly reduce the probability of collisions and groundings, thereby enhancing safer navigation at sea for existing and the new generation of vessels that will aim to go remotely operated or autonomous in the future. The system will consist of a module for automated collision prevention and avoidance, and another decision support module that uses data from state-of-the-art sensors and other relevant sources to provide an effective visual representation of the multi-source data to the navigators. At the solution’s core lies cutting-edge technology by consortium partner Ladar Limited, the LadarTM Sensor Suite, which uses an innovative combination of sensors and cameras to detect, classify, and track objects/targets and also partially submerged objects in the vessel’s path. R&D and studies will also be carried out on how to avoid collisions with marine mammals. Consortium partner, SAYFR, will address the root causes of accidents, human behavior on the bridge (navigators), and a risk model related to navigation at sea.

The SafeNav (Safer Navigation) consortium comprises a geographically diverse and technically robust group of key partners. Naval Group, Sirehna, and Danaos Shipping Company belong to the maritime industry, while innovation-oriented SMEs include Offshore Monitoring Limited, Global Maritime Services, SAYFR, Greenov, and Ladar Limited. In addition, research and development institutes and universities are represented by Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum (IMEC), the University of Rijeka (UNIRI), and the University of Genova (UNIGE) that will take part in the novel technical development of algorithms that will be used in the SafeNav solution.

Lance Savaria, Head of Projects at Offshore Monitoring Limited, says, “The SafeNav project presents us with an exciting opportunity to contribute towards the maritime sector. With the support of a strong consortium, we foresee the next few years full of active collaboration and hands-on research and development work to tackle the issue of navigational accidents at sea with an innovative digital solution – the SafeNav system.”

This Project has received co-funding from the Research and Innovation Foundation Programme under Project Number No: 10038866.

About Offshore Monitoring Limited

Founded in 2007, O.M. Offshore Monitoring Limited is committed to improving the efficiency, safety, security, and navigation for commercial shipping and other related offshore activities by transferring non-maritime emerging technologies into the maritime and offshore marketplace.

For more information, visit: Offshore Monitoring