Wärtsilä has created a new demonstrator and innovation vessel where customers can test Wärtsilä Voyage’s own technologies, as well as its technology partners’ systems, in real-life sea conditions.
The AHTI vessel previously served as a German Government fishery patroller and will now be used for retrofit technology installations and to create a platform for further innovation and development.
The floating R&D facility will also help Wärtsilä Voyage to cut down the cost and time barriers associated with real-life tests, returning meaningful results on a much lower risk and cost base than going into full-scale testing directly.
In the first half of 2022, AHTI’s bridge was fitted with a number of products from Wärtsilä Voyage’s portfolio including NACOS Platinum, SPECS and RS24. The vessel has also installed partner technology products from OSCAR and Drynet.
SceneScan, SmartMove, remote control and satellite connectivity systems will additionally be implemented onboard in the near future, the company says.
“Technology designed to solve the industry’s biggest challenges must be tested in situations that come as close as possible to real life scenarios. However, we understand that real world testing is costly and time consuming,” added Hendrik Bußhoff, Head of Product – Autonomous Systems, Wärtsilä Voyage.
“Trialling new equipment almost always means testing it on a customer ship which can often bring with it a lot of obligations and questions about documentation, schedules, data ownership and compliance. This is why we invested in AHTI.”
“We now have a resource that will shorten time-to-market, enable us to fail fast and innovate quicker, and compare and understand different technologies outside of controlled environments.”
