VCS Projects Brief

Controlling the future of maritime operations

Uncrewed?vessels?are rapidly taking on more offshore survey, surveillance and inspection tasks and the technology used to control them is developing apace. Here's a round up of some of our recent Vessel Control System (VCS) projects.

Triple engine control for Singapore Navy

Dynautics is a Mercury Marine dealer, giving us direct access to the company’s G3 engine set up software - a critical factor in calibrating and optimising engine performance. Last year we worked on a triple Mercury engine (900hp) VCS for the Republic of Singapore Navy’s uncrewed security and surveillance craft. It was a challenging project with a tight timeframe, but by leveraging our experience with Mercury’s control protocol we were able to deliver our?MK4 autopilot?with Mercury interface module, remote control handset, wiring harness and Dynautics Remote Control Windows (RCW) application for remote route planning. All equipment was fully installed, calibrated and subject to sea trials in time for the Navy’s mission.

From clouds to waves with SPECTRE

ALTI Unmanned serves the civil and military sectors with unmanned aerial vehicles for commercial and industrial applications. In 2022, the ALTI team embarked on a mission to use their hard-won unmanned expertise on a marine USV. Due to an ambitious timeline, ALTI needed a control solution that they could retrofit themselves. We delivered a?SPECTRE MK4 VCS, complete with wiring harness, interfaces and all necessary components - ready to install. This plug and play solution dovetailed into ALTI’s existing comms system, giving the team a clear development path. Diagnostics took place remotely to progress the retrofit, with any challenges quickly solved by our support team.?Read the case study

Royal Navy vessel conversions

"Customers who have very specific operational needs make my job incredibly interesting. The Royal Navy needed very specific behaviour and we were able to simulate their requirement and code it quickly, which was incredibly satisfying."

Dr Alison Little, Project Engineer

In its drive to leverage autonomous technology in the future of naval operations, the UK’s Royal Navy is converting some vessels to have unmanned functionality. This cost-effective development approach allows them to make use of commercial electronics and low NRE (non-recurring engineering) costs, speeding up the time it takes to get uncrewed craft operational. The Royal Navy has, to date, placed two VCS orders with Dynautics. Dr Alison Little and the team developed custom vessel control firmware for their unique behaviour requirements. Dynautics'?marine simulators?were also used to reduce the development cycle and time to launch.

Precise drive control for RC Dock Engineering

RC Dock Engineering BV enlisted Dynautics for the remote control of a 12m catamaran vessel, the first of 20 new remotely controlled unmanned workboats developed by the company, with azimuth thrusters and twin water jets.?As well as designing the?VCS using SPECTRE autopilot, we also advised on overall system architecture, design and the purchase of ancillary parts. The catamaran has since been granted RINA class approval. These automated vessels can conduct remotely controlled unmanned operations for offshore survey, subsea inspection, maintenance and repair.

Contact Kieran Breheny to discuss your vessel control missions and find out how Dynautics could help you to achieve them.