Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics research IGD. maritime graphics

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1 Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics research IGD maritime graphics

2 Contents Maritime Graphics 2 Virtual Technologies 3 Training systems in the maritime sector 3 Virtual reality technologies in shipbuilding 6 Production Support 7 Recording the building progress in shipbuilding 7 Mobile maintenance assistance 10 Underwater Image Processing 11 What we do for you 13 Photo acknowledgements: Title: Fraunhofer IGD and Future TV Page 1: James Steidl - Fotolia.com; alpha 3 Page 9, 10: Medienzentrum - Universität Rostock Page 14: Parris Cope - fotolia.com All other photos and graphics: Fraunhofer IGD August 2012

3 Maritime Graphics A ship needs to be evacuated. Where will the engineers mount the lifeboats and where are the bottlenecks on the escape routes? An offshore system is installed near the coast. How can its impact on fauna and flora be identified efficiently? Visual aids are supporting engineers, designers and developers to answer such questions quickly and at low cost. Virtual technologies speed up and facilitate product development and production processes. Prior to the computer age, all models of car, aircraft and ship parts had to be crafted by hand. Today, it is possible to inspect houses, industrial plants and ships before they are built. Contracting entities, architects and engineers can intervene and make adjustments in the planning and building phase and avoid or fix errors at an early stage. With its Competence Center Maritime Graphics, Fraunhofer IGD is supporting clients from shipbuilding, shipping, maritime technology and maritime research in a digital, virtual and visual way. Maritime Graphics stands for graphic software solutions for the benefit and advantage of the maritime industry. These include: Center Maritime Graphics is working on technologies allowing the use of even complex models in a simple, quick and costefficient way. Visual decision-making tools Human beings are strongly guided by visual impressions. In maritime shipping, nautical charts help skippers navigate the sea. This is where Fraunhofer IGD comes in to visually support clients. In modern navigation, for instance, three-dimensional nautical charts or navigational aids virtually overlayed in the human field of vision help the skipper make decisions on the bridge. 3D model preparation, visualization tools for simulations and data acquisition, virtual and augmented reality technologies, image-processing procedures. Digital shipbuilding When it comes to their structure and design, ships are much more complex than cars or aircraft and so are their digital models. Capturing them digitally and using their models is not an easy task. The stronger our lives are characterized by digital utensils such as smartphones or tablet PCs, shipbuilders also use more and more digital ship models. The Competence Virtual engineering For demanding special ships, engineers need to redevelop almost everything from the vessel s bridge to the engine room. With virtual technologies, designers make it possible to experience the ship already as a 3D model on the computer, thus making it easier for shipbuilders to evaluate drafts of new ships, avoid mistakes at an early stage and save time and costs. 2

4 Virtual Technologies Virtual technologies are creating virtual environments. The virtual ship is not a dream of the future. The only remaining question is how and for which purposes we will use it and how we can improve the quality of the visualizations. Fraunhofer IGD develops solutions and technologies further advancing the modern maritime industry. Training systems in the maritime sector The crews on ships and offshore installations need to be trained well, and the requirements of their training standard are continually increasing. The reason being new legal regulations, more complex technological systems and the continued trend to reduce personnel on ships. Virtual training environments for the maritime sector Virtual three-dimensional training systems are versatile and make a significant contribution to different training purposes in the maritime sector. In particular the steering of special vehicles such as ground-effect vehicles requires lots of practice. Ground-effect crafts are a mixture between speed boat and aircraft and require the vehicle operator to know about shipping and aircraft control. Fraunhofer IGD specializes in developing tailor-made solutions based on state-of-the-art visual computing hard- and software. The training in a 3D-based training environment with realistic simulations familiarizes the operator of a groundeffect craft with the swim and flight characteristics even under critical operating conditions. Authoring of training environments Three-dimensional training systems on the market such as a vessel s bridge for nautical training or an engine-room simulator have been created with a very high development effort and only cover individual training aspects. In order to amend them with additional training content, a new simulator must often be developed. The high cost for the preparation of the training content has so far prevented the broad-scale introduction of such simulators. Fraunhofer IGD develops authoring tools with which domain experts are able to create virtual training worlds for maritime training much faster. They make it possible to use existing draft data from the design stage, prepare them to be used as a virtual environment and efficiently link them to the required training contents. So far, this process of authoring requires special programming skills. In the future, even users without these skills are to be able to do this themselves. Previous simulators often do not illustrate the specific vessel to be operated and navigated by a crew member or ship s officer for cost reasons, but a type ship which is different from the actual ship. Fraunhofer IGD is improving the training effect by illustrating real ships in the virtual world in a time-saving and cost-efficient manner. 3

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7 In order to stand out from other competitors in shipbuilding and to remain competitive, entrepreneurs in the maritime industry need concepts and solutions. Virtual Reality technologies particularly help building special ships to speed up production and reduce costs. Virtual Reality technologies in shipbuilding In the automotive and aerospace industry, virtual reality (VR) technologies are firmly integrated in the design and production process. VR has only rarely been applied in shipbuilding on account of technical and organizational issues. In existing VR applications, shipbuilding-specific functionalities are missing, and VR applications are only insufficiently integrated in the system landscape and the processes. Integrating VR in shipbuilding routines Fraunhofer IGD is developing concepts and technologies in order to be able to apply VR technologies in the operational routines of shipbuilding companies. The Fraunhofer researchers are using VR technologies in order to improve ship drafts. If industrial partners can only insufficiently examine shipbuilding issues with conventional drafting tools, the researchers of Fraunhofer IGD visually implement these scenarios. This includes, for instance, simulation of firefighting and evacuations in which a multi-touch table controls the navigation and is used for the simulation to be illustrated. If designers and users consequently use 3D technologies, they can better evaluate such application scenarios and find better solutions for real ships. The research and development work of Fraunhofer IGD aims at anchoring virtual reality as an adequate tool in shipbuilding. In doing so, the following focal points have emerged: Application-oriented data provision of 3D and meta data Development of process-specific VR tools Automation of the data processing chain Validation of the ship design with respect to safety aspects Automated creation of building strategies Alignment of simulation and reality based on augmented reality technologies 6

8 Production Support For quality assurance and work planning, shipbuilders need to repeatedly record the current building progress. Fraunhofer IGD is developing technical solutions for mobile terminals recording and documenting the building progress on the equipment in real time. Recording the building progress in shipbuilding Ships have more complex structures than automobiles or aircraft. There are lots of changes in the production stage versus the original design. The reasons are deviations during production or exchanged building parts. For further production planning, subsequent repairs and remodeling as well as internal quality assurance, any alteration should be documented and accessible. time. An enhanced hardware module on cell phones serves to measure one s own position within the ship hull. The underlying basis is formed by the design data of an earlier building status. The data of their own position is used by designers to reference the data of the local environment and prepare them for the integration in the digital ship model. Enhanced planning and maintenance With augmented reality technologies, maintenance experts always employ the most current information on site. By means of a camera on the tablet PC, the technician will look at pipes, electrical outlets or machine parts. Augmented reality overlays the real image on the monitor of the tablet PC with information on year of manufacture, material and last maintenance. The technician recognizes which component he needs to replace and where exactly it belongs. If he needs to replace a part, he will enter it in the maintenance document and send it to the planning office via internet. A simple way of bridging the distance between office and maintenance hall and keeping the documents up to date. For the positioning, designers are using various sensors such as infrared, air pressure, acceleration and stereo camera and linking them together. A software integrates the previous knowledge on the spatial geometry, aligns the image content found and reconstructs the camera work. Quality assurance with image-based procedures Maintenance experts regularly visit the numerous steel parts of a ship in order to protect them from corrosion. Prior to applying paint, they check the quality of the surface. If it is right, a stable compound between steel and coating is guaranteed. The evaluation of the surface quality can be simplified and objectified by using computer vision. Building status of the ship in real time By means of mobile terminals, engineers are able to record the building status inside of a ship hull multimedially and in real The application possibilities of image-based technologies go far beyond shipbuilding. Industries such as plant engineering, construction and mechanical engineering are working with similar processes and can also benefit from these procedures. 7

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11 Complex technical devices and systems require professional maintenance. For industrial service offers, the maintenance and repair service is often crucial after a machine or vehicle has been delivered. Mobile Maintenance Assistance Maintenance of technical systems More and more complex machines, vehicles and production lines, specific customer requirements and ever increasing cost pressure on the international markets pose new challenges to the technical maintenance and repair of technical devices and systems. Modern mobile terminals, multimedia technical assistance systems and associated technologies are able to technically support maintenance technicians for service tasks on systems and devices. The developed prototype includes the following four essential elements: Authoring system for the didactic preparation of content for the maintenance technician Knowledge base with system-specific information General access to the knowledge base with system-specific information Mobile assistant for on-site maintenance by the maintenance technician Technically supporting service tasks Mobile assembly assistants provide technicians with tools to create, adapt and use multimedia service instructions. An assembly assistant supports the maintenance technician via tablet PC or smartphone for the maintenance and repair on site. It provides context-related information on the system and multimedia assembly instructions guiding him through complex repairs step by step. The assistant can photogrammetically record the maintenance environments and create a model with which the technical editor can create or correct a documentation. Via the assistant, the maintenance technician may also directly consult an expert on any open issues. Use of mobile maintenance assistants The client will have the following benefits by using mobile maintenance assistants: Cost minimization in the documentation process Continuous improvement of the documentation Saving of service hours Saving of expert hours Quick maintenance: current information is overlayed in the technician s field of vision via augmented reality technologies 10

12 Underwater Image Processing Small gas bubbles in the water result in increased wear and tear on ship propellers and reduce the effectiveness of the propulsion. Shipping and research have dealt with these so-called cavitation effects for a long time. Fraunhofer IGD is participating in researching and controlling this effect with image-based procedures. In the underwater world, other limiting conditions need to be considered than ashore - there is severe interference caused by floating particles and difficult lighting conditions. With image-processing technologies, structures can be measured, objects identified or positions determined under water. Scientists and designers can research oceans on a model basis, simulate influences of the maritime industry and improve the ecobalance of ships. Maritime biology, maritime technology and shipbuilding research benefit from the special imageprocessing procedures. special camera systems are analyzing how the gas bubbles move. Researchers are thus able to reconstruct bubble formations three-dimensionally and research their expansion. Then it can be concluded how the bubble formation impacts the wear and tear of the ship propellers and what engineers need to take into consideration when designing propellers or oar blades in order to prolong their lifecycle and to make ship propulsion more energy-efficient. Monitoring marine habitats Saving energy with image-based analysis When ship propellers are moving in the water, there are high flow velocities, and small gas bubbles may form in the water. This physical effect is called cavitation and is very damaging to propeller surfaces. These tiny implosions create small craters which will become bigger and bigger over time. Cavitation corrosion emerges on the propellers. Cavitated ship propellers have a lower efficiency and need more energy for the propulsion of the ship. Cavitation can either be reduced by the skipper lowering the rotational speed in operation and slowing down, or by an improved design. It is one of the standard tasks of maritime research and the ecological evaluation of offshore systems to record the fauna and flora on the bottom of the sea or in the water head. So far, this is mostly done by divers or by researchers evaluating submarine videos. With underwater image processing, it is possible to determine the type and size of the living organisms to a great extent. Fraunhofer IGD has procedures for image improvement, segmentation and classification of the image content or even for the reconstruction of 3D structures. They provide a basis for efficient monitoring procedures. Companies and researchers want to make this complex physical effect mathematically comprehensible and better understand its impact. Fraunhofer IGD is working on the 3D reconstruction of cavitation effects. Inside the flow channel, 11

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14 What we do for you Fraunhofer IGD is the world s leading institute for applied research in visual computing. Visual computing is image- and model-based computer science. As a bridge between fundamental research and industry, Fraunhofer IGD offers research and development as services. OUR SERVICES Computers penetrate our daily personal and professional lives more and more. Omnipresent systems integrating themselves in the daily routines of the user and thus supporting him in his activities are our primary research field. The Competence Center Maritime Graphics develops and uses graphic software solutions for the benefit and advantage of the maritime industry. Our cooperation partners from shipbuilding, shipping and maritime technology / maritime research benefit from our forward-looking developments. The researchers of Fraunhofer IGD help adapt and make effective interactive computer graphics for the maritime industry. Our offer and service features Fraunhofer IGD and its partners offer clients numerous services around contract research and implement these in high quality. The Competence Center Maritime Graphics offers the following fields of work and topics as a competence and technology partner: Technology studies Consulting Contract research Development of prototypes Data processing Data analysis / image evaluation Visualization also with VR technology Fraunhofer IGD is offering tailor-made solutions for the whole maritime sector: Shipyards Marine suppliers Training facilities Public authorities 13

15 Contacts are an essential basic element of communication. Personal contacts convey a feeling of proximity and can provide in-depth information on technical details and cooperation possibilities. Extensive discussions offer more profound information. You can find our contacts for you here. NETWORKS Pooling expertise is key for networking. Therefore, Fraunhofer IGD engages in various working groups and networks together with small and medium-sized companies, engineering offices and research institutions. Subsea Monitoring The network is linking the expertise of companies and research institutes. It serves as a platform for joint technology development and product offers in the area of subsea monitoring. 3D maritim www. subsea-monitoring.net The 3D maritim network initiated and managed by Fraunhofer IGD is a pool of specialized IT companies, research institutions and users driving the use of 3D in the maritime industry. In their cooperation, the network partners are developing new products and services ranging from design via production all the way to training and retrofit. CONTACT Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD Waterborne In the Waterborne Group of the Fraunhofer Alliance Traffic and Transportation, seven Fraunhofer institutions are pooling their maritime expertise. With transportation-relevant research, Waterborne develops suitable technological and conceptual solutions and applications for public and industrial contracting entities. Location Rostock Joachim-Jungius-Straße Rostock, Germany Phone: Fax: info@igd-r.fraunhofer.de Prof. Dr. Uwe Freiherr von Lukas Head of Competence Center Maritime Graphics Phone uwe.von.lukas@igd-r.fraunhofer.de 14

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