Technical
A modicum of relief
A collision with a large partially submerged object figures high on the oceanic racer’s list of fears. Never more so than today when we have grown almost blasé about racing along at more than 30 knots... at night
“Game changer” is a phrase used far too often. New developments and refinements can indeed change the game in offshore sailing, pushing the limits in performance to new heights. Yet rarely is there a new product that approaches an ongoing problem in such a fundamentally new way that it rises to be truly worthy of this term. It’s a pleasure to describe herein the Oscar system because for offshore sailors this is a revolution in imaging that will not only boost performance but likely save lives as well. OSCAR stands for Optical System
for Cognition and Ranging, and is the world’s first optical-based system that can not only identify the range and bearing to targets in front of the vessel, but also, through its Artificial Intelligence (AI) software, develop the cognitive ability to recognise what these targets are as well. This is a critical leap forward in helping navigators to decide how to take urgent evasive action if needed, based on the nature of the target. Targets can run the full range of
potential collision hazards like logs, buoys, containers, icebergs, other vessels and whales. More than just calculating whether a collision is imminent, the AI software in Oscar helps sort through the options of what the object may be, to then understand what action to take. The image-recognition technology built into Oscar can be used not just
56 SEAHORSE
for avoidance but to track objects too. If there is a crew overboard, a liferaft or some other object in need of rescue, Oscar can be of great value in helping track and retrieve that target. In most circumstances radar and AIS cannot provide the same resolution to find the object, much less help to identify what it is.
Whose idea was this? The development roots of Oscar lie in an offshore passage made by founder Raphaël Biancale. Poor visibility, especially at night, and the absence of driver assistance systems as in development for cars sparked Raphaël‘s idea to provide more convenience and safety for sailors by combining sensor technology with AI. He started his career in R&D for automotive development companies AVL and Magna in the fields of intelligent car systems and automotive software. After finding funding support,
Biancale got in touch with Gaetan Gouérou, manager of the company Mer & Projets, co-founder of the CDK Technologies shipyard and general delegate of the Imoca class. Convinced by the concept, Gouérou decided to get involved. With his expertise and connections in the maritime domain, he helped get offshore teams interested in this emerging technology. The Oscar system is built in
Above: Sam Davies is one of 19 Imoca skippers – more than half of the fleet – who will be using Oscar as their primary collision avoidance tool in the upcoming Route du Rhum. Right: thermal imaging and camera views of Oscar on an iPad. It also works on Android tablets, phones and chartplotters. Oscar will be rebranded to
SEA.AI this autumn
Austria by BSB Artificial Intelligence GmbH and developed in partnership with BSB Marine located in Port la Foret in Brittany, France, and in Portugal, two locations with a strong maritime heritage. Valuable feedback on the design and performance features were provided from high-profile offshore skippers such as Jean Le Cam, Vincent Riou, François Gabart and Armel Le Cléac’h.
How does it work? Oscar relies on a combination of high-resolution low light and thermal cameras, the latter designed to detect temperature differences to
YANN RIOU
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