Developing a Remote Operations Center for Uncrewed and Autonomously-Capable Maritime Surface Ships

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) are increasingly enabled by advances in automation, autonomy, network connectivity and shoreside support systems. These technologies create opportunities to offload tasks to Remote Operating Centers (ROCs), reduce and/or remove onboard crew, thus facilitating a wide variety of approaches for how ships are controlled and monitored in comparison to traditional shipping. This paper details a design case study of an ROC for an 8-meter diesel-electric uncrewed and autonomous-capable test ship operating in North Atlantic Canadian waters. A series of user-centered workshops and design iterations were implemented to redesign and refine the ROC physical work environment and Human-Machine Interfaces to better align with the goals and demands of shoreside operators. This work provides methodological and design contributions to MASS ROC development, while also creating a foundation for human-performance testing involving ROC operators and autonomous surface ships for the next phases of research and development.