Defense company Austal has received an approval in principle (AiP) from classification society DNV for its autonomous and remotely operated ships (AROS) platform controller.
Approval in Principle, to DNV’s market-leading autonomy guidelines, is a critical step in this journey and highlights the maturity and market readiness of Austal’s product development.
The AROS Controller, designed and developed by Austal at Henderson, Western Australia, is a safety control system that provides a standardised and managed interface between the vessel’s complex engineering systems and the navigational autonomy system.
The system manages the transfer of information in both directions, constantly checking system health and verifying that requests are valid and safe.
The aim is to confirm that the vessel operates within the operational design domain and operational envelope. It is designed to ensure safer and more compliant operation in remotely operated and autonomous modes.
Novel to Austal’s approach is that this development is focused on providing a standardized, modular interface between the navigational autonomy system and the complex ship systems managed by MARINELINK-Prime, Austal’s own integrated monitoring alarm and control system (IMACS). The development of this capability ensures that future Austal vessels are truly autonomy-ready, and when connected to a compatible navigational autonomy system, such as Greenroom Robotics’ GAMA, the vessel can become autonomous within existing delivery schedules.
The company will now complete the development, verification and validation processes, and seek full approval for this critical interface.
“Austal has been delivering vessel systems integration and autonomation for more than 30 years, and the development of the AROS Controller represents the next step in delivering not only leading vessel automation, but true autonomy,” Sam Abbott , Head of Research and Development at Austal Australia, said.
“The AROS Platform Controller supervises all critical vessel information and enables full autonomy when connected to Austal’s own Integrated Monitoring, Alarm and Control System, MARINELINK-Prime and a compatible Navigational Autonomy System.”
Abbott also stated that Austal was very pleased with the successful completion of the patrol boat autonomy trial (PBAT) in 2024, which had been conducted alongside DNV as the classification society, with autonomy partners Greenroom Robotics. He highlighted that the trial represented an important step in advancing safe and trusted autonomous capabilities.
Jarle Coll Blomhoff , Head of Section (Digital Ship Systems) at DNV said that autonomous and remotely operated ships will be central to the future of maritime operations.
“Developing such advanced new technology is a complex task, and we are pleased that Austal has chosen to collaborate with DNV to ensure the safety of their new solution is thoroughly verified. The Approval in Principle for the AROS Controller confirms its technical feasibility and marks an important milestone towards full verification, laying the foundation for wider adoption of DNV’s AROS class notation and enabling smarter, safer, and more sustainable ship operations,” he concluded.