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46 Insight | Logistics more efficient alternative to transporting goods on container trucks, which are constrained by increasingly congested road networks. Logistics organisations, retail companies and other businesses stand to benefit from unmanned shipping systems being developed for rivers, canals and smaller seas where international regulations and stakeholders do not hinder the adoption of these technologies. The Yara Birkeland USV remains the leading example of this. Developed through a partnership between Kongsberg Maritime and chemicals company Yara International, the 80 m long vessel will begin autonomous operations in 2020. The project is about more than just unmanned shipping though. As Ketil Olaf Paulsen, technical director at Kongsberg Maritime’s Merchant Marine division, says, “It’s also a future solution for the unmanned handling of containers, in this case from the feeding station where they are filled with the fertiliser Yara produces in Norway. The containers will be brought down to the quayside by fully autonomous straddle carriers or trucks, and then unmanned cranes will lift them onto the vessel.” The system will be given a full listing and order of what is going to be shipped on each voyage, what will be held in each container, and each container’s exact destination. That will allow the overall system to handle everything without requiring any routine human intervention. The straddle carriers will use various sensors to navigate through mixed traffic. “In large industrial areas there are always a lot of people walking and cycling around, cars and other trucks as well, plus the loads from the production and loading areas,” Paulsen explains. “At the quayside the carriers are always going to encounter things they have to avoid on the way to the relatively safe area around the cranes, so autonomy is key here.” Having received the cranes and straddle carriers from Kalmar Global, a Finnish manufacturer of cargo-handling solutions for ports, distribution centres and terminals, Kongsberg Maritime is now working on developing the complete end- to-end autonomous logistics solution. “The shipyard has started cutting the steel for the Yara Birkeland , and the ship should be sailing by Q1 2020,” Paulsen adds. While air transport remains the most expensive (albeit the fastest) means of transporting cargo, some UAV manufacturers are working on vehicles that would apply the advances in unmanned technology to aerial freight operations. The heavy-freight UAVs being developed by California-based Natilus are designed to carry a higher volume of goods than typical ‘tube-and-wing’ manned air cargo platforms. The company anticipates that this larger volume will allow their vehicles to transport more revenue cargo per route, lowering costs by up to 50% when compared to competing aircraft operations. Natilus plans four products, currently referred to by their anticipated weight class (measured in Imperial tons): 3.4T, 60T, 100T and 130T. “For technology development thus far, we have a 2200 lb, 30 ft prototype that is undergoing testing in San Francisco,” says Alexsey Matyushev, CEO of Natilus. “The first customer-representative aircraft will be the 3.4T freighter, which is going through preliminary design and will begin wind tunnel testing in early Q2 2019.” This prototype is being powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprop engines, running on Jet A fuel. The largest vehicle, the 130T, will use three General Electric GE9Xs. On the use of these engines, Matyushev notes, “Although there is a huge push in the industry for the electrification of aircraft, we believe the energy density of present battery technology is too low for long-range aircraft.” December/January 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology As well as being intended as an autonomous freighter, the ‘Yara Birkeland’ project is also aimed at developing and integrating unmanned cargo-handling ground systems (Courtesy of Kongsberg Maritime) The carriers will always encounter things they have to avoid on the way to the area around the cranes, so autonomy is key