NSSLGlobal has launched SmartHub, a condition-based monitoring solution that provides a new level of predictive maintenance across all bridge systems, ensuring greater uptime and reducing costly shipboard visits from engineers. The company will debut SmartHub at SMM in Hamburg, with demonstrations of its capabilities at the biennial fair, one of the maritime industry's largest trade events.

Serving the needs of the vessel owner and operator rather than the equipment manufacturer, SmartHub is completely vendor-agnostic. Designed by NSSLGlobal drawing on nearly six decades of maritime solution expertise, the system monitors bridge systems including radar, GPS, ECDIS, speed logs and more. That breadth is significant because this equipment is navigation-critical: radar and ECDIS are among the systems whose carriage is required under SOLAS Chapter V for most commercial ships, so their availability is tied directly to safe and compliant operations at sea.

Machine learning algorithms embedded in the solution identify the root cause of a fault without hours of intervention or the need to place an engineer onboard. SmartHub transmits data over onboard satellite connections to NSSLGlobal's centralised portal, enabling problems to be identified and rectified early, before they lead to any serious operational impact. This ensures fast remediation and maximum uptime for owners and operators.

Early intervention is vital because a single failure in one system can trigger multiple failures across others, creating significant problems. A malfunctioning gyrocompass, for example, will affect the performance of the ECDIS, TVRO, VSAT and other key systems.

Unlike onboard machinery, including engine systems, bridge systems have not traditionally been monitored remotely. Engine rooms have long been covered by alarm and monitoring systems, and classification societies have progressively accepted condition-based maintenance and remote survey techniques in that machinery domain, a baseline SmartHub now extends to the navigation and communications electronics of the bridge. With the launch of SmartHub, this capability is now available to vessel owners and operators.

With active monitoring of bridge systems in place, when it is necessary to go onboard the problem will already have been diagnosed remotely, so the NSSLGlobal engineer will have the right parts and be more likely to achieve a first-time fix. This not only streamlines efficiency but also improves the sustainability and cost profile of shipboard maintenance operations.

"SmartHub is a major advance in efficiency and sustainability for vessel owners and operators in a highly competitive global market where every second of uptime counts," said Paul Rutherford, Global Service Engineering Director, NSSLGlobal. "It will reduce the likelihood of downtime and reduce maintenance costs. Alongside our Smart Maintenance contracts, this is an advanced customer-focused solution where NSSLGlobal has expertise and can add real value."

For owners and operators, the SMM debut offers an early opportunity to see the capability demonstrated live, and how SmartHub pairs with NSSLGlobal's existing Smart Maintenance contracts will be one to watch as remote monitoring extends from the engine room to the bridge.

Source: NSSL Global, via Hellenic Shipping News