D-NAVIO

Project summary: 

D-NAVIO (meaning Digital-Ship) is an advanced Digital Twin project that aims to develop a next-generation digital “clone of ships” through an Intelligent Digital Twin (IDT) system. Integrating explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and self-healing technologies, D-NAVIO focuses on large, complex vessels, enhancing maritime safety, protecting property, improving environmental efficiency, and facilitating the transition to autonomous ships by incorporating interdisciplinary knowledge.

Brief Project description: 

Cyberattacks, piracy, sabotage, and tampering in the maritime sector can trigger various costs like financial losses, operational disruptions (including health and safety at sea), cybersecurity expenses, legal fees, repair costs and reputational harm. The shipping industry is thus faced with significant challenges in combating and mitigating the problem effects of malicious interventions on global trade and security, as these incidents not only affect individual companies, but also have broader implications. 

The D-NAVIO project understands the sheer complexity of the challenges faced in the maritime industry, proposing the development of a “digital clone of ships”, with respect to their design, equipment, systems and software. This can empower the creation of a new robust next generation Intelligent Digital Twin (IDT) system integrating eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and (self-)healing technologies for large complex vessels, by offering real-time monitoring, prediction, prevention and management of hazards during their operational phase. 

D-NAVIO's innovative approach aims to revolutionise risk assessment and hazard identification in waterborne digital transport, and support the future development of autonomous ship systems using AI decision-support systems. By combining remote and on-board systems operations, D-NAVIO aims to integrate maintenance logs and machine learning technologies, seeking to develop user-friendly information systems of potential failures and actions to be taken by captains and crew, in order to mitigate faults and failures in real-time. Simultaneously, it aims to ensure remote and real-time software problem solving while the ship is sailing. 

In achieving extra-mile developments, D-NAVIO aims to analyse real-life Pilot use cases in two distinct types of large complex vessels, namely: 

• Pilot Use Case 1: a large passenger/cruise ship

• Pilot Use Case 2: a large cargo/container ship

The project objectives include: 

Objective 1 (O1): Design and develop a methodological framework that evolves and enables the risk assessment of complex vessels in pre-delivery testing and sea trials, as well as during operations, to become more data-driven, continuous and ultimately more efficient.

Objective 2 (O2): Leverage digital technologies, including Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Twins, XAI, Generative AI and self-healing solutions, to design and develop a robust integrated multifunctional open cloud platform facilitating comprehensive and continuous risk analysis. 

Objective 3 (O3): Enable the specification, validation and establishment of robust reliability regimes (e.g., fail-safe, fail-secure, fail-operational) to ensure the continuous safe and secure operation of waterborne digital systems under failure conditions, by utilising the vessels’ digital clones to test various scenarios, including system failures and malicious interventions. 

Objective 4 (O4): Evaluate and validate the project’s methods, tools and models through specific use cases on real passenger and cargo ships, to provide user-centric feedback for the improvement of the D-NAVIO IDT system, and finally demonstrate its full potential for the maritime industry. 

Objective 5 (O5): Assure the impact of the project’s outcomes by engaging policy makers and regulators from the waterborne and other sectors operating safety critical digital systems where digital twin-based risk assessment/management technologies and practices are well-established. 

NTUA role: Project Management, Expertise in Vessel Route Prediction, Cybersecurity, Decision Support Systems, Project Coordinator, WP1 Leader, WP4 Leader, Access Control, Vulnerability Assessment, Technical Integrator.

Project website: https://d-navio.eu/