A zero-emission autonomous barge in operation across the Oslo Fjord is to begin a new connectivity trial using Eutelsat OneWeb’s low earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet service for real-time data transfer, ship-to-shore communication, and remote and autonomous vessel control.
The collaborative project, run by Kongsberg Maritime with the help of Norwegian telecommunications provider Telenor Maritime, will see the electric barge, owned and operated by grocery distributor ASKO, equipped with Eutelsat OneWeb’s latest Kymeta Peregrine u8 flat panel antenna system for the duration of the trial.
The ASKO barge is one of a pair delivered in 2022 that have been operating extensive trials transporting up to 16 trailers of cargo on each journey across the Oslo Fjord, reducing road travel by two million kilometres and cutting carbon emissions by 5,000 tons annually.
During this connectivity trial, the barge will be remotely controlled from a Remote Operations Centre (ROC), located in Horten and operated by Massterly, a Kongsberg Maritime and Wilhelmsen joint venture company.
“Seamless connectivity remains one of the key challenges for remote and autonomous operations, particularly in the open oceans,” said Pål André Eriksen, Senior Vice President, Remote and Autonomous solutions, at Kongsberg Maritime.
“Overcoming the challenges of global connectivity and available bandwidth will unlock great potential for the deployment of such technologies in future, and we look forward to working with Eutelsat OneWeb and Telenor Maritime to see how this project can advance the development of autonomous shipping solutions further.”
“We’re grateful to ASKO for allowing us to install OneWeb’s latest antenna technology on one of their vessels, which will provide a realistic operating environment to comprehensively demonstrate the low latency, high throughput capabilities of Eutelsat OneWeb’s low earth orbit satellite service.”
Both of the ASKO vessels, also known as sea drones, have a permanent bridge for manual operation, but can also be controlled from the ROC in Horten. However, the project partners expect that, once the autonomous concept is proven, the bridge will be omitted in future builds.
