Research, Development and Innovation
More than 75 years of experience and research place SSPA at the forefront of maritime research, development and innovation (RDI). SSPA lead and participate in projects and our staff combine consulting work with research to suit the maritime industry’s need for RDI. For our full-time researchers, the focus is on research projects and method development, including Ph.D. studies in some cases.
SSPA collaborates with universities, research organisations and industry and has a well-established scientific network. We initiate and lead EC-funded and national research projects. Special attention is given to international research cooperation such as the EU Horizon 2020 programme.
SSPA has expertise in many maritime areas. Our RDI activities include the following:
- Development of new methods and techniques
- Innovation implementation
- Knowledge development
- Scientific networking
- Support of business development
Contacts
Ph.D. (Tech. Management and Economics), M.Sc. (Mech. Eng.), M.Sc. (Business Admin.)
WASP project launched
The Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) project has recently been officially approved and launched. This project brings together universities, wind-assist technology providers with ship owners to research, trial and validate the operational performance of a selection of wind propulsion solutions. SSPA is one of the expert partners that will test wind propulsion systems on different types of vessels, routes and sea conditions. WASP is funded by the Interreg North Sea Europe programme.
Testing proof of concept of SEAMAN Online, new paper
Together with Chalmers University of Technology, SSPA has completed a study testing proof of concept of SEAMAN Online™ with students. SEAMAN Online is a novel web-based ship manoeuvring training tool allowing students and professional mariners to practice manoeuvres in ports and confined waters from their personal computers.
Wind-Powered Car Carrier
In the research project Wind-Powered Car Carrier (wPCC) a wind-powered vessel will be developed, from concept to a technical and financially viable design ready to be built within 3-5 years. This project aims to pave the way for a paradigm shift in maritime transport by demonstrating that this new transport concept is possible even in the near future. We do not necessarily need to wait until 2050 to reach IMO's goal of 50% reduction of greenhouse gases.
STM Validation Project results
The Sea Traffic Management Validation Project was finished this summer and its final report with the project’s results was recently published. SSPA has been a partner in this project, where the SSPA Route Optimisation Service was developed and integrated into the ECDIS through the Maritime Connectivity Platform and tested with the involved partners and ships. Optimising the route has a strong impact on the operational costs for fuel and it is translated into GHG emission savings.
AIS in maritime research, new paper
A new research article is published in the journal Marine Policy. This paper provides an overview of how Automatic Identification System (AIS) can be used in different areas of maritime research. The researchers have identified and presents ten different research areas in which AIS is used today. In the future they propose making use of AIS data also in other research fields. Many stakeholders can benefit from the research in which AIS data is used.
Challenging applications in marine engineering
Marine 2019 was recently hosted by Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. This conference is a meeting place for researchers developing computational methods and scientists and engineers focusing on challenging applications in marine engineering. Researchers from SSPA, together with some of our research partners, presented interesting papers.
Paper awarded by RINA
The paper “Comparison of modern keel types for sail boats” was published in late 2017. The study systematically evaluated the hydrodynamic performance of different types of bulb keels. Recently, the paper was awarded with two prizes at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) annual meeting. The Institution’s Medal of Distinction and the Austin Farrar Prize.
CFD/EFD Combined methods
SSPA leads the ITTC Specialist Committee on Combined CFD/EFD Methods. The purpose of the committee is to initiate and support the process of introducing combined CFD/EFD methods in ITTC’s procedures. By using the best combination, rather than viewing them as competing methods, we can deliver even better predictions. To facilitate the introduction in our community, the Committee has identified several research areas which need to be addressed.