Autonomous Maritime Systems Engineering

Engineer Autonomous Shipping and Marine Robotics Systems

The maritime industry is moving steadily toward autonomy, remote operation, and increasingly intelligent vessel systems. Autonomous Maritime Systems Engineering is a technical guide for designing, integrating, testing, and evaluating autonomous vessels and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs).

Written for marine engineers, robotics developers, naval architects, and maritime technology teams, this book bridges the gap between theoretical autonomy and practical maritime deployment. As the International Maritime Organization (IMO) advances the non-mandatory MASS Code and prepares the path toward future mandatory requirements, maritime professionals need clear engineering frameworks for safety, human oversight, cyber-physical resilience, and remote operation.

Inside this engineering guide, you will learn about:

• MASS Code and Regulatory Readiness: Engineering considerations for modes of operation, goal-based regulatory frameworks, safety assurance, and flag state approval pathways.
• Sensor Fusion and Perception: Techniques for combining marine radar, camera systems, LiDAR, AIS, GNSS, and environmental data into a common operational picture.
• COLREGS-Aware Collision Avoidance: Design considerations for velocity obstacle methods, model predictive control, risk assessment, and decision logic aligned with Rules 8 through 16.
• Redundant Power and Propulsion: Design principles for fault-tolerant propulsion, diesel-electric configurations, DP concepts, monitoring, and maintainability.
• Remote Operations Centers: Human-machine interface design, low-latency communications, VDES, satellite telemetry, operator workload, and multi-vessel supervision.
• Autonomous Berthing and Port Operations: Precision docking concepts using DGPS, perception systems, mooring technologies, and automated port call workflows.

Whether you are studying defense USVs, planning commercial sea trials, evaluating autonomous vessel architectures, or exploring automated container ship concepts, this book provides practical frameworks, mathematical foundations, system architectures, and regulatory context for modern marine engineering.

This book is an independent educational reference and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the IMO, any classification society, shipbuilder, robotics vendor, defense contractor, or maritime authority.