Sperry Marine’s NaviPilot 4500N autopilot at SMM (source: Riviera Maritime Media)
Sperry Marine has introduced a self-tuning autopilot to its e-navigation platform
The Northrop Grumman subsidiary unveiled its NaviPilot 4500N and partnerships with ABB and Navtor during the SMM exhibition in Hamburg, Germany.
NaviPilot 4500N is a networked, self-tuning, fully adaptive heading control system that is easy to deploy and maintain. It was designed to improve course-keeping, reduce fuel consumption and lower the bridge team’s workload, said Sperry Marine product line manager Sandra Gassig.
“NaviPilot 4500N minimises unwanted rudder motion and lowers drag, thereby saving fuel and contributing to greater efficiency,” she told Riviera Maritime Media.
For improved operations, NaviPilot 4500N can be coupled with Sperry Marine’s Navigat 2500 or Navigat 3500 fibre optic gyrocompass. It has several unique features, said Ms Gassig, including minimising oversteer and enabling incremental heading progression.
NaviPilot 4500N adjusts the rudder control for the individual squat, trim and load of a particular vessel on a particular voyage. It continues self-tuning during the voyage, adapting in real-time to external factors, such as trim changes due to fuel use, different cargo loading parameters and longer -term changes in behaviour as the vessel ages.
Steering performance can be tailored for different weather conditions and heading keeping requirements, functions which have proven to help to save fuel in difficult weather conditions by optimising rudder lift and drag performance, said Ms Gassig.
Further features to be made available include support for track control with Sperry Marine VisionMaster ECDIS, support for high-speed craft operations or a combination of both.
Also during SMM, Sperry Marine announced its inclusion of ABB Ability Octopus marine advisory system with its SperrySphere intelligent navigation platform.
Octopus provides motion monitoring, forecasting and vessel performance monitoring. This can be used by shipowners as a digital decarbonisation tool to reduce fuel consumption and comply with upcoming regulations, such as the IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII).
By continuously visualising the expected vessel motions along the planned route, the system contributes to vessel and cargo safety, enabling the crew to select a route where maximum allowable motions will not be exceeded, resulting in the most efficient optimised route.
“Our new solution can enable vessels to navigate more safely, reducing fuel costs and carbon emissions,” said Sperry Marine managing director James Collett.
“We not only aim to improve the vessel’s performance; the SperrySphere digital platform will be the one single platform to deliver smarter and safer digitally enabled navigation services to our customers.”
This platform includes navigation charts and voyage planning tools through a partnership with Navtor. These will help shipowners and operators improve navigational safety and reduce fuel costs through optimised routeing, designed to avoid adverse weather and ocean conditions.
