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38 Dossier | Mayflower Autonomous Ship on for the navigation solution. However, that approach was rejected owing to its insufficient transparency and understanding as far as regulatory agencies were concerned. Such agencies were also perturbed at the thought of emergent behaviour arising from models based on RL. “On top of that, in addition to our existing collaborations with IBM on our computer vision and our edge computing network, a group from their financial services department reached out one day to talk about a product they had called ODM [Operational Decision Manager],” Scott says. “ODM is a tried-and-tested fintech tool widely used in credit card fraud evaluation. I remember looking at Brett for clues as to what this had to do with ship navigation, but then it hit us – ODM’s software is structured around making very difficult decisions in a very complex environment using a deterministic rule set. “COLREGs are all about how ships act and interact with each other, so if you follow them you’ll navigate safely, but as indicated there are a lot of unpredictable and vague elements. ODM provided a means for implementing such rules in a way that is understandable to a computer, so that’s how our AI is able to consistently adhere to them, while accounting for edge case situations and without being a black box that might upset regulators.” ODM also outputs the rationale for its decision-making for the Mayflower’s software engineers, to enable them to understand its workings more closely and ensure trust in the system with regulators. However, ODM is a cloud-based service, so IBM moved the software onto an onboard computer, thereby enabling the autonomous ship to make its own navigational decisions at sea. “We’re also collecting energy usage information from our BMS and power systems, and might potentially run that data through IBM Watson Studio for predictive maintenance in the future,” Thompson adds. Sea power About 13 or so solar panels sit on the top deck, largely facing upwards with some tilting here and there so as not to conflict with the Mayflower’s aerodynamic profile; notably one of them is installed atop the forward access hatch. Collectively they provide 2 kW in bright, sunlit conditions. “They’re the M-Series PV product from Solara, which is the world leader in flexible marine solar cells as far as we know,” Phaneuf says. “They’re non- stick and you can walk on them without damaging them – important qualities for workability – and they’re proven in terms of surviving saltwater environments for very long periods.” The panels are polycrystalline silicon, with ETFE anti-corrosion layers on their fronts and backs, welded at the edges. External hotspot-protector materials with bypass diodes are also installed to prevent cells from overheating, and an aluminium sandwich support plate sits at their bases to optimise mechanical stability and heat dissipation. February/March 2022 | Unmanned Systems Technology Mayflower Autonomous Ship USV Trimaran Solar- and biodiesel-electric Dimensions: 14.83 x 6.22 x 5.11 m Weight: 5 tonnes Payload capacity: 700-1000 kg Maximum range: 5000 nautical miles Maximum speed: 10 knots Cruising speed: 6-8 knots Some key suppliers Autonomy: Marine AI Machine learning and AI systems: IBM GPUs: Nvidia Linux SBCs: Red Hat Microcontrollers: Piktronik IMUs: Silicon Sensing GNSS: Veripos Gyros: iXblue Solar panels: Solara Protective coatings: Protectology Protective coatings: Quantum Spray Systems Batteries: Mastervolt Generator: Fischer Panda Propellers: Teignbridge Generator and engine wiring: RS Automotive Multicore cabling: Lapp Cable High-current cable: Helkama Ethernet switches (managed): MOXA Ethernet switches (unmanaged) and I/Os: BrainBoxes 4G/wi-fi modems: Peplink Satcom: Thales Satcom: Iridium Additional connectivity: Slingshot6 Video compression and transmission: Videosoft AIS: ExactEarth Radar: Furuno Meteorological systems: Gill Instruments Meteorological systems: Intellisense Systems Nautical tools: Weilbach Group Design and construction: Aluship Technology Additional equipment and services Gard P&I Wartsila Vodafone National Instruments The Weather Company Kawasaki ChatBotBay Turnchapel Wharf Sea Tow Cognition Foundry Specifications