Sitronics KT, a member of Sitronics Group, received an award in the sphere of transport and logistics for developing an integrated solution for autonomous ship navigation. The awarding ceremony of “ComNews Awards: The Best Solutions for Digital Economy” that identifies the leaders on the Russian IT market took place on November 25, 2021.
The company has developed a commercial solution for autonomous vessels called a-Navigation. This solution is a synergy of artificial intelligence, mathematical modelling, and recognition and identification technologies. It enables to replace humans at vessel controls. A-Navigation can be installed both on new and operating vessels, which will accelerate the development of autonomous ship navigation in Russia. Within the scope of this award, A-Navigation has been acknowledged as the best solution in its nomination, meeting such key criteria as scalability, innovation, complexity, efficiency, and significance for the industry.
“We were happy to get an award at the tenth anniversary of ComNews Awards. A-Navigation is definitely a cutting-edge technology. Thanks to our solution, Russia is now one of the leaders in autonomous ship navigation. Its implementation will allow to lower vessels’ operation costs and human factor impact, preventing accidents and ecological disasters. This technology can be used to control a convoy of vessels and to be more accurate in forecasting marine logistics, which is very important for the development of the strategic national project, the Northern Sea Route,” emphasized Nikolay Pozhidaev, Sitronics Group President.
Presently, Sitronics KT has developed systems for autonomous ship navigation, including hardware and software components. These solutions are undergoing testing in field conditions. These systems have been installed on three commercial fleet vessels that belong to Rosmorport, Pola Rise and Sovkomflot companies. All of them are participating in the autonomous marine ships testing experiment. The experiment is conducted with the assistance of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Russian Ministry of Transport.
In December 2020, the Russian government approved the decree to test autonomous marine ships sailing under the Russian flag. In accordance with this decree, any ship operator can equip their vessels with autonomous navigation systems and use them for their regular business activities in 11 regions: Krasnodar, Primorye, Khabarovsk territories, Astrakhan, Kaliningrad, Magadan, Leningrad, Murmansk, Rostov, Sakhalin Regions, and in St. Petersburg.
