In the last decade, dangerous sailing conditions caused the loss of more than a thousand vessels and their cargo, mainly due to mistakes by the crew members. Operating a massive vessel, loaded with goods worth millions and sometimes billions of dollars, and navigating it while identifying obstacles and dangers in real time, requires crew members to make smart decisions based on a lot of diverse information. Smart systems can reduce the potential for human error thanks to the automation of routine tasks and processes, which will allow the team to focus on making critical decisions
Intel and Rolls-Royce, a key player in the global shipping industry, announced last night a collaboration to develop advanced artificial intelligence systems for autonomous vessels, which will make the maritime transport industry safer. 90% of world trade is carried out by sea transport and out of a worldwide fleet of about 100,000 vessels, about 25,000 use Rolls-Royce equipment. Last year, the company announced that it would build a fleet of fully autonomous cargo ships by 2025.
Rolls-Royce has announced that it will use Intel's Xeon Scalable processors in special data centers that will be set up on board the vessel. These smart systems - Intelligent Awareness System - use artificial intelligence capabilities to process data from radar and lidar devices, HD cameras and thermal cameras, various sensors, satellite data and weather forecasts. The analysis of this data will allow the vessel to navigate independently, detect obstacles several kilometers away and manage communications. These autonomous capabilities are especially important when sailing at night, in difficult weather conditions or in ports and crowded shipping lanes.
The data that will be collected in the floating data centers will be stored in advanced 3D NAND SSD memory components, which works similar to a "black box" and enables both the security of the data and its access to the system training and the analysis of the voyage after its completion. Even when compressed, the volume of data collected by one vessel can reach 1TB per day, or at least 30TB during a month's voyage - making data storage a critical component of any advanced solution. Rolls-Royce announced that it will further examine the use of advanced Optane memory components and Intel FPGA chips.
In the last decade, dangerous sailing conditions caused the loss of more than a thousand vessels and their cargo, mainly due to mistakes by the crew members. Operating a massive vessel, loaded with goods worth millions and sometimes billions of dollars, and navigating it while identifying obstacles and dangers in real time, requires crew members to make smart decisions based on a lot of diverse information. Smart systems can reduce the potential for human error by automating routine tasks and processes, allowing staff to focus on making critical decisions.
One response
Intel and Rolls-Royce will develop a complex system that requires artificial intelligence, complex decision-making that affects a vessel with a mass of hundreds of thousands of tons, and any wrong decision may endanger equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars and dozens of human lives (if not more), and that requires testing under completely uncomplicated regulatory conditions , and all that Intel is able to tell is that they will use processors made by it and memory chips with a specific technology. It's like the leading screw company will announce that they are going to develop a cruise ship, and in a press release they will promise that they will use "Osmium Carbide!!" screws, no less, and also explain how important it is to use excellent screws.
And just now I remembered the Monty Python skit about the accountant who wants to retrain and become a lion trainer (and also the reason why he wants to become a lion trainer).