The autonomous boat measures water depth at the port to guarantee normal operations
The port of Antwerp, in Belgium, is working on a fully autonomous sounding boat to measure water depth in the port.
The vessel, dubbed Echodrone, is a prototype that is currently being developed to supplement the other operational sounding boat, the Echo. Echodrone is expected to be fully operational in the future.
The main aim of sounding boats is to carry out measurements of the water depth everywhere in the port so as to guarantee safe passage for ships.
The cloud-based technology has been developed in partnership between the Port Authority and dotOcean, a maritime technology company based in Brugge, Belgium.
“As a world-class player we as a port aim to be a leader in developing innovative concepts,” said Piet Opstaele, innovation enablement manager at Antwerp Port Authority. “In this way we are laying the foundations for the ‘smart port’ of the future in which digital technologies are used to make the land-based and water-based operations more flexible, responsive and efficient.”
One of the Port Authority’s responsibilities is inspection and maintenance of the maritime infrastructure, including the beds of the docks. Regular measurements of the water depths at the berths and at all other points are carried out, both to ensure safe passage and mooring for ships and to plan the necessary maintenance dredging work.
So far this has been done using the Echo sounding boat, but now an innovative autonomous sister boat has been developed in collaboration with dotOcean in order to help with the work. The new vessel, named the Echodrone, is smaller than the Echo and is fully autonomous.
”The Echodrone is currently undergoing extensive trials. Once these have been completed it will be based in the Deurganck dock where it will be fully operational alongside the Echo to measure the water depth of the available berths at the busiest of the tidal quays for handling containers,” said Wim Defevere, senior technical manager nautical access of the Antwerp Port Authority.
“This technology is based on assembling detailed information in the cloud,” said Koen Geirnaert, co-founder of dotOcean. “Data from all sorts of devices throughout the port is made available over the internet and then selectively compiled and translated into useful information by algorithms in the cloud. The Echodrone is designed to navigate fully independently using this verified data, unlike the previous generation of automatic vessels that had to rely on their own onboard sensors. This makes the Echodrone one of the first of a completely new generation of robots.”
“With the help of the Echodrone it will be possible in future to carry out other types of measurements, such as environmental surveys, inspecting quay walls and so on. This technology is a real breakthrough for us in our quest for smart solutions for the port of the future. It is also a good example of our role as an initiator and facilitator of innovative initiatives,” Opstaele added.
