Maritime AI company Orca AI has launched the next generation of its AI-based operational platform, delivering a 360° field of view (FOV) around a vessel. This forms a foundation for advanced collision avoidance and autonomous navigation.
Demand for full-surround awareness has increased over the past year, as it enhances what navigators can see and assess on the bridge – especially in dense traffic and in areas where radar can struggle to consistently track contacts, including small, fast-moving craft. The solution has already been delivered to multiple customers with proven sea-time.
Also read: Orca AI launches fully automated navigational assistant
No line-of-sight constraints and detecting piracy threats
The 360° FOV configuration is enabled by three SeaPod lookout units, each equipped with high-sensitivity RGB and thermal cameras. Working in unison, they deliver continuous full-perimeter coverage and unified situational awareness around the vessel, enabling detection of overtaking vessels and piracy threats, and overcoming line-of-sight constraints caused by cranes, wind rotor sails, and other deck equipment.
Extending situational awareness to a 360° FOV provides continuous visual coverage around the vessel, giving bridge teams a complete operational picture at all times. On vessel types such as heavy-lift carriers, where structural design can restrict visibility, this ensures that no sector is left unobserved.
Small craft, including those involved in piracy activity, often approach from outside the primary forward view. Persistent coverage improves early detection and tracking. Overtaking situations, governed by Rule 13 of the COLREGs, also develop outside the forward sector, and continuous perception supports earlier and clearer navigational decision-making.
Also read: Autonomous ships are here now – and that’s a good thing
Towards autonomy
Persistent full-surround awareness is fundamental to autonomous and semi-autonomous operations. An autonomous vessel must continuously monitor its entire navigational environment to operate safely and apply COLREGs correctly.
Dor Raviv, CTO and Co-founder of Orca AI: ‘A full 360° FOV represents a meaningful step forward in providing unmatched situational awareness for vessels operating in increasingly complex navigation environments. It is also a foundational requirement for enabling safe autonomous operations, with Orca AI building the practical foundations of autonomy. A 360° FOV is a critical part of this effort, which will expand beyond 360-degree computer vision and AI-based situational awareness to include machine-learning capabilities for predictive insights and voyage optimisation.’
Picture: The 360 FOV capability is facilitated by three Seapod units providing simultaneous full surround situational awareness (photo by Orca AI).
