AnchorGuardian, providing safety during anchoring by monitoring the position and absolute movement of a ships anchor.

Project Information

AnchorGuardian

Grant agreement ID: 877262

DOI

10.3030/877262

Project closed

EC signature date 29 July 2019

Start date 1 July 2019

End date 31 December 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SWISS OCEAN TECH GMBH
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AnchorGuardian (AnchorGuardian, providing safety during anchoring by monitoring the position and absolute movement of a ships anchor.)

Reporting period: 2019-07-01 to 2019-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Anchoring is a routine job at on board sea operations; the whole process - from laying to hoisting the anchor – is a critical operation for the crew and passengers’ safety. Despite advanced naval navigation equipment such as GPS, echo sounder, or radar, there is today no product available which monitors in real time the state and accurate movement of a ship’s anchor. Data from an insurance company indicate that about 5% of all insurance claims are related to dragging of the anchor.
Swiss Ocean Tech is the first company on the market to solve the problem of complete anchor monitoring and reliable dragging alarms. AnchorGuardian monitors in real-time the absolute movement and position of a ships anchor, also in very shallow waters. In addition, AnchorGuardian predicts the quality of the anchor hold with early warnings and provides essential information whilst laying and lifting the anchor supporting the crew of different types and sizes of vessels with the relevant intelligence.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the feasibility study, Swiss Ocean Tech has developed and manufactured a functional model with the aim to demonstrate the key functionalities of AnchorGuardian. In October 2019, sea trials have been conducted with the functional model. We have used a 27ft leisure sailing boat where the functional model has been attached to the anchor chain and the anchor. The sea trials have been conducted on different sea floors (sediments) and with various motion patterns of the anchor. The sea trial results are very promising with a high reliability and accuracies of between 80% to 100% of the measured displacement vs the actual displacement. These results are already close to the accuracy we target. Based upon the results, the algorithm is being further optimized.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

We have updated our business plan to go beyond the superyacht market segment and to include also merchant ships, leisure boats and fishing vessels. The business plan shows how the strategic vision has evolved from a niche segment to cover all vessels.
The first 4 years of sales (2022-2025) Swiss Ocean Tech will first penetrate in the luxury yacht market, and progressively expand to commercial ship, fishing vessels and leisure boat markets.

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