JRC/Alphatron Marine and Navis Engineering sign a MoU
JRC/Alphatron Marine and Navis Engineering sign a MoU partnership to co-develop Ships Motion Control Systems.
On the 17th June, Alphatron Marine in Rotterdam the Netherlands and Navis Engineering in Vantaa, Finland, agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a partnership to develop a highly innovative range of Ship Motion Control Systems based on Autopilot and Dynamic Positioning technologies which can become an integrated part of the JRC navigation system.
Alphatron Marine a JRC company, Japan Radio Co.,Ltd, and Navis already co-created the very successful MFM adaptive autopilot and have cooperated on many DP projects for various ships types. “We wanted to formalize our cooperation for more future developments in motion control systems. An increasing number of customers, mainly from the cruise, ferry and offshore segments as well as the domestic cargo ships, are requested us to combine autopilot and joystick control functions with the navigation system” says Reiji Miwa, CEO of the Alphatron Marine group.
Alphatron Marine and Navis aim to provide a comprehensive solution to support safer and efficient Navigation, from optimum route sailing of merchant ships by the ECO-pilot to automated harbor approach and docking operation for special vessel types.
The JRC Smart Decision Support System, currently in development, can support ships navigators by calculating the safest route in crowded sailing areas. After the officer’s waypoint-change-acknowledgement on the JRC multifunctional workstation the proposed route containing information with course and speed, can be directly executed by the Motion Control System. This is a large step forward into supported sailing and semi autonomous ships.
“The last 15 of almost 30 years in development of Motion Control Systems, Navis Engineering successfully cooperates with Alphatron Marine. Our companies have the same dedication and strategy to make shipping safer and more efficient by supporting the crew in operations and decision making, that’s why the partnership makes so much sense allowing our companies to create new, most innovative and complex products following the latest industry trends and customer demands” says Petr Opekunov, CEO of Navis Engineering.
The Dynapilot, a combination of autopilot, joystick control and DP functionality will be the first new system of the partnership that will go to market soon. Sales promotion will start in Q4, we will keep you informed.
