AutoMINDER – Autonomous MarIne Navigation in Denied EnviRonments

Fault tolerant, high availability navigation systems used in the oil and gas industry today can already be considered automated. However, there are always at least two people on watch on typical mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) as the Dynamic Positioning systems still rely on human intervention to take action when automatic fault detection and decision making are defeated. Automatic station keeping of a MODU is currently limited to benign environments where the operation of other vessels within 500m is either forbidden or highly regulated. The project will address these limitations by delivering a step change in the level of automated positioning possible. The technology developed and demonstrated will enable a vessel to behave in a safe and predictable manner beyond the point at which existing systems revert to human control. This will include safe, predictable positioning in the event of a sensor failure (such as the denial of GNSS), and enhanced positioning to enable moving in a challenging and complex environment.