Four presentations by master's students were recently held at the NTNU Shore Control Lab, showcasing new ideas and technologies that could help shape the future of autonomous and remotely operated maritime systems. The projects involved more than four students in total.

The presentations were organized through the MIDAS project and brought together students, researchers and industry representatives to discuss emerging solutions for maritime autonomy, remote operations and human-machine interaction.

As part of their master Andreas Ødegård and Thomas Bønes Wedege built a teleoperation station. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Exploring the future of shore control

The student projects addressed different aspects of remote and autonomous vessel operations, ranging from fleet management and operator interfaces to route planning and haptic feedback systems.

Master's student Markus Lunde presented the project Designing a Graphical User Interface for Fleet Supervision of Autonomous and Remotely Operated Vessels. The project focused on how future maritime operators can effectively monitor multiple autonomous and remotely operated vessels from a shore control centre.

Markus Lunde defending his Master’s thesis. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Lunde developed a functional prototype for the Shore Control Lab featuring both individual operator workstations and a shared operational display.

Rather than maximizing the amount of information shown, the design helps operators quickly identify which vessels require attention, understand events as they occur, and move seamlessly between fleet-level and vessel-level views while maintaining situational awareness.

Markus Lunde explaining the prototype to the opponents. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Master's students Tomas Bønes Wedege and Andreas Ødegård presented Design and Construction of a Maritime Teledrive Station, which explored a key challenge in autonomous shipping: what happens when a human operator must take control of a vessel from shore.

The students designed and built a teledrive station that enables direct real-time vessel control.

Andreas Ødegård and Thomas Bønes Wedege presenting scale models of remote operation centres. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Drawing on input from maritime experts, field studies, ergonomic evaluations and production considerations, the project demonstrated how situational awareness, ergonomics and practical manufacturability are closely connected when designing future shore control workstations.

Malin Hanssen explaining her prototypes to the opponents. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Another master's project, presented by Johannes Østreborge Thorsen, examined how digital decision-support systems can help planners select more energy-efficient routes for hybrid service vessels in the aquaculture industry.

The project explored how weather conditions, charging opportunities, operational requirements, costs and emissions can be integrated into route planning tools.

Johannes Østreborge Thorsen explaining how weather routing can be used to reduce fuel, energy consuption and emissions at sea. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri.

Thorsen developed and tested two prototype interfaces with different levels of information and environmental feedback, highlighting how design choices can influence both decision-making speed and sustainability considerations.

Master's student Malin Hanssen presented Collaborative Autonomous Fleet Management, which investigated how future maritime operations centres can support operators responsible for multiple autonomous vessels, remotely operated vessels and sea drones simultaneously.

Malin Hanssen. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri.

Using the Shore Control Lab as a case study, the project explored how people without traditional maritime backgrounds can collaborate to monitor and manage autonomous fleets.

The work resulted in design concepts and recommendations for interfaces, workflows and decision-support systems that can improve shared situational awareness, coordination and event handling in future shore control centres.

Malin Hanssen explaining her prototype to the opponents. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri.

Bachelor students Adrian Ravn Håkonsen, Arnstein Lystad Johnsen, Mikael Kofoed and Romeo Henriksen alså presented the project Haptic Feedback for Remote Controlled Maritime Vessels, carried out at NTNU.

The project explored how tactile feedback can improve operators' perception of vessel movements and surroundings when controlling vessels remotely, potentially making remote operations safer and more intuitive.

Together, the projects demonstrate how multidisciplinary research spanning industrial design, cybernetics, human-machine interaction and decision-support systems is helping shape the next generation of maritime autonomy and shore control technologies.

The external opponent, Alf Ove Braseth, Principal Investigator at Institute for Energy Technology and the internal opponent: Ashis Parmar, Associate Professor in design at Department of Design. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri.

Building competence for the future

A well-attended audience of researchers, students and industry professionals gathered at the Shore Control Lab to learn about and discuss the students' work.

The audience follows the master presentations at Nyhavna. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri.

Among those attending was Bård Eker, CEO of Eker Group and one of Norway's most recognized industrial designers and entrepreneurs.

Eker has spent decades developing advanced maritime and mobility solutions through Eker Group and has been involved in projects ranging from high-performance boats to electric ferries and autonomous systems.

Ødegård and Wedege's presenting scale models of remote operation centres. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

For Eker, the student projects highlighted the importance of building competence for the next generation of maritime innovation.

"The most important thing is that we get more designers and developers who are interested in controlling maritime vessels, whether remotely or autonomously, and who can contribute to ensuring that Norway remains a strong maritime nation."

Eker noted that many of the concepts presented are highly relevant to ongoing developments in both commercial shipping and unmanned maritime systems.

Bård Eker, CEO of Eker Group. was among the listeners. Photo Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

"We have developed an electric ferry, and the idea of operating not just one ferry but several vessels from a shore control centre is becoming increasingly relevant. The work being done here is directly connected to that future."

He also pointed to growing demand for advanced remote operations in the unmanned surface vessel sector.

"We produce unmanned maritime systems for customers who operate them in different ways, including from shore. Some of our customers are in Ukraine, where there is a significant need for this kind of thinking and technology."

Investing in future innovators

While the student projects demonstrated practical solutions and technical innovations, Eker emphasized that their long-term value extends beyond the immediate results.

"The most important outcome of projects like these is not necessarily the physical result itself, but what these students may go on to create over the next 40 years," Eker adds.

Markus Lunde explaining the prototype. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

The presentations at NTNU Shore Control Lab highlight the importance of collaboration between academia and industry in developing both the technologies and the talent needed for the future of autonomous maritime operations.

Through initiatives such as MIDAS and the Shore Control Lab, students gain the opportunity to work on real-world challenges at the forefront of maritime autonomy, while industry partners gain insight into the next generation of ideas and expertise.

More pictures from the presentations

Photos: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri