83 proposed using a smart traffic analytics system, co-developed by SingularityNET and Cisco Systems, to help prevent accidents caused by the high rate of jaywalking in Phoenix, US. “We made that by taking processed image data from cameras and applying reasoning to those data for re-identification. If, say, somebody disappears underneath a canopy of tree cover, and then comes out the other side, we could successfully re-identify the person coming out the other side,” he says. “We can also model anomalous behaviour with accurate probabilities by gauging, for instance, the likelihood of there being an oncoming car where a person is moving. “You can quickly see that those sorts of AI technologies could greatly benefit autonomous road vehicles too, as they could plan speed and directional changes probabilistically to optimise their safety and efficiency. “If someone came to us with a smart system for UAVs to gather relevant aerial image data, we could learn far more, and make our planning and reasoning more precise.” Ikle adds that applicants with approaches for almost any of the AI-centric ideas previously seen in this publication would be welcomed for consideration. Those include analytics of engine health data for predictive maintenance, AI-enhanced encoding and decoding for improved data compression and streaming, or AI-based logic for autonomous swarm operations. Applicants from any country around the world are welcome, and SingularityNET itself has personnel and partners on every continent (except Antarctica). Maritime decarbonisation Across the Atlantic from the US, a recent call for proposals from the European Space Agency (ESA) is similarly aimed at improving humanity’s lot through the use of autonomy, specifically in the maritime domain. Since October 31, 2024, and set to close on January 15, 2025, ESA has been offering zero-equity funding (along with technical and commercial guidance, and access to its network and partners) to commercially viable ideas on how the maritime space can be decarbonised through maritime autonomous systems. That encompasses a broad umbrella. As ESA understands that making vessels autonomous does nothing to directly decarbonise them, examples for technical proposals start with the fact that USVs can be inherently greener than crewed ships by virtue of their relative compactness: remove anything onboard relating to life support, and suddenly it has far less weight and volume to shift. By extension, it can use a smaller, potentially greener powertrain and does not need to return to port to periodically relieve onboard crew members, potentially enabling more efficient mission routes. ESA notes that the International Maritime Organisation’s Maritime Safety Committee identifies four degrees or levels of maritime automation (as part of a ‘regulatory scoping exercise’) outwardly analogous to the SAE’s five levels of driving autonomy (published in MSC 100/20/ Add.1, Annex 2). Being a space-focused organisation, ESA suggests innovators could efficiently advance ships’ capabilities from degree one (a ship with automated processes and decision support) to degree four (a fully autonomous ship, through the use of space data and technologies, such as satellite-based positioning, timing, comms or Earth observation) in the interest of maritime decarbonisation. Enhancing autonomous maritimetraffic management or collision avoidance systems would aid fuel efficiency and the longevity of components, so proposals along such lines would be highly eligible for funding consideration. AI-based analytics to further aid navigation efficiency against severe weather patterns and other hazards are similarly sought after. Also included among the ideas for appealing proposals are ways to modernise onshore infrastructure for seamless coordination between offshore autonomous assets and shoreside crews. These include concepts or technologies for remote monitoring and operations centres, docking facilities and comms systems. For uncrewed assets out at sea, innovations for securing them against jamming, hacking and physical assaults are also prized by ESA within the terms of its call, these being critical to the robustness of autonomous operations, and how they could be made stable and sustainable. Uncrewed Systems Technology | December/January 2025 ESA is calling for proposals on autonomous vessel technologies that stand to decarbonise the maritime industry and operations (Image courtesy of Yara International; photo by CFC)
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