Enhancing marine safety

Wärtsilä’s Smart Panoramic Edge Camera System.

Wärtsilä takes situational awareness to a new level as their new Smart Panoramic Edge Camera System greatly reduces risk of accidents by providing an almost perfect 360 degree view of the vessel and its surroundings.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF WÄRTSILÄ.

Sasha Heriot, Head of Product, Assistance Systems, Wärtsilä Voyage.

Recently, Wärtsilä Voyage, part of the technology group Wärtsilä, announced the launch of its Smart Panoramic Edge Camera System (S.P.E.C.S). Designed to signifcantly enhance marine safety, it’s a system that provides 360 degree situational awareness, streamed directly to the bridge in real-time. In addition to eliminating blind spots with digital panoramic cameras located around the vessel, S.P.E.C.S can also provide a birds-eye view of the ship and its surroundings, which is a signifcant

“With S.P.E.C.S, the bridge crew has a perfect view of what’s going on around the ship at all times. This takes situational awareness to a completely new level, and greatly reduces the risk of accidents and costly damage.”

Sasha Heriot – Head of Product, Assistance Systems, Wärtsilä Voyage.

“Safety is of increasing concern in today’s maritime environment. Vessels have become larger in size, and the volume of sea trafc is greater than ever before.”

Sasha Heriot – Head of Product, Assistance Systems, Wärtsilä Voyage.

advantage when docking. The system’s cameras provide a calibrated range grid around the vessel to give precise measurement of distances. Furthermore, it ofers an augmented reality view by connecting to the navigation system to assist in identifying targets and potential hazards.

A new level of awareness

“Safety is of increasing concern in today’s maritime environment. Vessels have become larger in size, and the volume of sea trafc is greater than ever before. With S.P.E.C.S, the bridge crew has a perfect view of what’s going on around the ship at all times. This takes situational awareness to a completely new level, and greatly reduces the risk of accidents and costly damage,” says Sasha Heriot, Head of Product, Assistance Systems, Wärtsilä Voyage. Thanks to the full view – free of blind spots – that it ofers, the S.P.E.C.S system solves challenges such as the spotting of small vessels, the monitoring of tug operations, or the potential inaccuracies of manual docking. By eliminating this uncertainty and providing almost perfect situational awareness, S.P.E.C.S greatly reduces risks both in busy harbours and in confned waters.

Multiple display and workstation options come with a dedicated software package specifcally optimised for the hardware. The camera pods are designed to cope with the harshest marine conditions, and the system is not reliant on the global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Wärtsilä Voyage has hosted an in-person launch event of S.P.E.C.S on 27 April at the Seatrade Cruise Global conference being held in Miami, Florida.

i. wartsila.com

S.P.E.C.S offers an augmented reality view by connecting to the navigation system to assist in identifying targets and potential hazards.

S.P.E.C.S can provide a birds-eye view of the ship and its surroundings, which is a signifcant advantage when docking.

The system’s cameras provide a calibrated range grid around the vessel to give precise measurement of distances, which assists in docking and departure.