Small Unmanned Surface Vessels— A Review and Critical Analysis of Relations to Safety and Safety Assurance of Larger Autonomous Ships

Victor Bolbot*, Andrei Sandru, Ture Saarniniemi, Otto Puolakka, Pentti Kujala, Osiris Valdez Banda

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview Articlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
182 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Autonomous ships represent an emerging paradigm within the maritime sector, poised to bring multiple advantages. Although numerous prototypes have been developed, the deployment of large autonomous ships has predominantly remained confined to domestic waters or specialized military applications. The extensive adoption of autonomous ships is hampered by several challenges, primarily centered around safety. However, the direct assessment of autonomous technologies on large-scale vessels can be very costly. Small-scale autonomy testing may provide a cheaper option. This study reviews the current small autonomous ship models used by maritime researchers and industry practitioners. It aims to evaluate how these autonomous models currently augment and can augment safety assurances on larger autonomous ships. The review identifies relevant very small Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs), the main research groups behind them and their appli-cations. Then, the current use of USVs for safety and safety assurance is analyzed. Finally, the paper suggests innovative strategies and research directions for using USVs for the safety assurance of larger autonomous ships.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2387
Number of pages38
JournalJournal of Marine Science and Engineering
Volume11
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023
MoE publication typeA2 Review article, Literature review, Systematic review

Keywords

  • unmanned surface vessels
  • bibliometric analysis
  • systematic review
  • applications
  • safety
  • cybersecurity

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