Safety & assurance

Safety & Assurance

Work Package 4

Safety & Assurance

Our objective is to research and develop novel methods, models and tools for risk management and safe design and operations of autonomous ships.

This work package will focus on risk reduction, mitigation strategies, and safe solutions for the design and operation of autonomous ships. This achievement relies on the ability to identify the new risks and incorporate necessary (technical, software, security, human and organisational) measures into the systems, the operation, and the associated infrastructure.

The main research tasks are:

  • Task 4.1, which focuses on risk management in operation, and the need to monitor system condition, act upon, and mitigate consequences of hazardous events.
  • Task 4.2, which targets the integration of safety in design phases and fail-safe solutions.
  • Tasks in 4.3, which focuses on system verification and simulation, including cost-efficient approaches to testing and simulations.
  • Task 4.4, which evaluates the implication of autonomous operations and risk acceptance in the context of liability and maritime laws, as well as how assurance tools, standards, and rules can cover the new aspects of autonomous operations.

Projects

Projects

PhD projects

PhD projects

  • Online risk modeling of autonomous ships, Susanna Dybwad Kristensen
  • Risk acceptance and operational constraints in risk modeling of autonomous operations, Spencer Dugan (completed)
  • Safety demonstration of autonomous control systems using digital twin, Raffael Wallner
  • The application of the international regulations for preventing collision at sea (COLREGS 1972) to autonomous vessels, Ayoub Tailoussane
  • Marine cybernetics and safety for autonomous ships, Emir Cem Gezer
  • Safety assessment and verification of collision avoidance algorithms for autonomous ships, Sreekant Sreedharan
  • AI and data-driven safety management in operation of autonomous ships, Jon Estil Jon Estil Krågebakk

Postdoc research

Postdoc research

  • Dynamic and simulation-based risk modeling for operational decision support and verification, Alojz Gomola (completed)
  • Supervisory risk analysis and control in operation, Paul Lee

Recent publications

Recent publications

Journal articles:

Spencer A. Dugan, Ingrid B. Utne (2025). "Improved identification of maritime risk-influencing factors using AIS data in regression analysis", Reliability & Engineering System Safety.  

Alojz Gomola, Susanna D. Kristensen, Ingrid B. Utne (2025). "Multi-level risk classification of distributed embedded software failures for autonomous systems", Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part O, Journal of risk and reliability. 

Susanna D. Kristensen, Renan G. Maidana, Ingrid B. Utne, Jens E. Bremnes (2025). "Evaluating the effect of risk metrics for supporting operational decisionmaking by autonomous surface vehicles", Ocean Engineering. 

Paul Lee, Ekaterina Kim (2025). "Towards robust deep reinforcement learning agent for the path following of autonomous ships amid perception sensor noise", Proceedings of ESREL 2025.

Samieh Najjaran, Roger Skjetne (2025). "Nested optimal energy scheduling and power allocation for zero-emission high-speed passenger vessels", Ocean Engineering. 

 

Conference papers/ seminars: 

Spencer A. Dugan, Ingrid B. Utne (2025). "Analysis of the Repairability of Ship Machinery Failures", Annual Symposium on Reliability and Maintainability (RAMS).  

Emir Cem Gezer, Mael Korentin Ivan Moreau, Anders S. Høgden, Dong Trong Nguyen, Roger Skjetne, Asgeir Johan Sørensen (2025). "Digital-physical testbed for ship autonomy studies in the Marine Cybernetics Laboratory basin", ICSOS 2025.  

Ekaterina Kim, Asgeir J. Sørensen, Bjørn Egil Asbjørnslett, Ingrid B. Utne, Knut V. Høyland, Mojtaba Mokhtari, Raed Khalil Lubbad, Roger Skjetne, Sønke Maus, Tor Arne Johansen, Wenjun Lu (2025). "New solutions for harsh environments through research-industry collaboration", Arctic Shipping Summit 2025. 

Børge Kjeldstad (2025). "Safety equivalence assessment for a small passenger ferry with a periodically uncrewed bridge", SFI AutoShip Days 2025.  

Susanna Dybwad Kristensen (2025). "Risk-aware autonomous surface vessels for safe and intelligent path planning", SFI AutoShip Days 2025.

Paul Lee and Jorge Luis Mendez (2025). "Towards risk-aware AI agents for safety-critical operations of MASS/ DNV co-simulation platform: Simulation Trust Center", SFI AutoShip Days 2025.