Lt Cdr Rinze Geertsma RNLN (Royal Netherlands Navy), Chairman of the iSCSS Technical Advisory Sub-Committee
INTERNATIONAL SHIP CONTROL SYSTEMS SYMPOSIUM TO BE HELD ALONGSIDE IMarEST’S INEC 2018
The International Ship Control Systems Symposium (iSCSS) is being relaunched after a nine-year gap and will be held alongside INEC 2018 (the International Naval Engineering Conference and Exhibition) from Tuesday 2 – Thursday 4 October 2018 at the Technology & Innovation Centre at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
Both Learned Society events are being organised by FIGS Events on behalf of the IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology). The iSCSS Call for Papers, with its theme ‘Revolutionary Technology Inspiring Ship Control’, is now available at www.inec.org.uk.
As Lt Cdr Rinze Geertsma RNLN (Royal Netherlands Navy), Chairman of the iSCSS Technical Advisory Sub-Committee explains: “iSCSS, which was last held in 2009, has a distinguished history of technical symposia spanning over 40 years. Working with our sub-committee of international control experts, we want to bridge the gap between the shipbuilding industry, academia and research institutes, not only for the naval sector, but for the maritime sector as a whole. The Symposium represents an opportunity to influence future control strategies.
“Outside the maritime domain, new technologies are developing at revolutionary speeds, such as autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, robotics, hybrid propulsion and power generation, and intelligent power and energy management. If the marine sector is to benefit from these technologies, we urgently need to rethink our control strategies for all types of marine vehicles.”
The inclusion of autonomous systems means that manning reduction and the roadmap towards higher degrees of autonomy, and predictive maintenance algorithms are likely to come under the symposium spotlight. Other topics likely to be covered during iSCSS include real time control algorithms to improve energy efficiency; modelling, simulation and validation of case studies; and control and optimisation of auxiliary systems and DC electrical distribution systems.
As Lt Cdr Geertsma explains: “We are particularly interested in attracting the new generation of professionals who have ‘grown up’ with the new technologies; and I am delighted to announce that the Sir Donald Gosling Award will be extended beyond INEC to include iSCSS in 2018.”
He adds: “Our aim is to inspire researchers, engineers, seafarers and others involved in future ship control to present their papers on innovative and emerging technologies and to actively stimulate debate across the maritime industry.”
The Call for Papers closes on Friday 8 December 2017. Those selected to present papers will be notified in February 2018.
iSCSS: The History
The Ship Control Systems Symposium was an initiative started by the government defence departments in Canada, The Netherlands, UK and USA with the objective to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration between member nations in ship control systems concepts, design, operation and support as well as to provide a professional and public forum for commercial marine, industry, government, academia and naval engineering communities.
The symposia series was organised 14 times rotating between the four nations from 1966 until 2009. In 2018, it is relaunched as the International Ship Control Systems Symposium (iSCSS) and will be held alongside INEC 2018 focussing on the rapid development of new revolutionary technologies and the impact on future control system strategies for both naval vessels and commercial ships.
Further information
Information on exhibiting, and on sponsorship is now available from www.inec.org.uk and inec@figsevents.co.uk. The full technical programme will be available in spring 2018 when delegate registration opens.
