Vessel owners are improving their ship maintenance through improved monitoring of onboard system performance, with real-time and packaged data from the main engines, diesel generators, boilers and emissions-abatement technology.

NYK Bulkship (Asia) operations director Capt K K Mukherjee explained some of the main benefits of deep-level sensor networks and condition monitoring during Riviera Maritime Media’s Extending intelligent monitoring of onboard machinery webinar, on 9 September.

He said shipowners and managers should invest in intelligent systems to understand the huge amount of hidden data in a ship. This should involve installing networks of sensors, if these are not already commissioned; centralising onboard data capture and processing, sending information over a secure virtual private network from the ship to the shore-based management office; plus data analytics for trend analysis and real-time monitoring.

“This can lead to data mining during inventory control and various optimisation of the onboard operations in relation to navigation or running machinery,” said Capt Mukherjee.

“You have to have an intention or mission to transform your digital resources and not to waste them,” he said.

Online and remote monitoring can be used for maintenance management, system optimisation, operational advice, reporting and spare parts management of some onboard systems, said Capt Mukherjee. The most common equipment monitored by ship operators are the main engines, diesel generators, boilers, scrubber systems, selective catalytic reaction (SCR) devices, voyage data recorders and vessel navigation aids. Capt Mukherjee said remote monitoring provides owners with early warning of issues and alerts if there are performance problems.

For example, NYK monitors main engine loads and revolutions. It watches fuel oil and cylinder oil consumption, exhaust gases and auxiliary blowers. This Japanese owner then monitors consumption and load sharing of the ship’s diesel generators and voyage information from the bridge.

Capt Mukherjee said the future for condition monitoring and cognitive maintenance will involve virtual reality and digital twins. These will help in repair and maintenance over a ship’s lifecycle and enable owners to identify areas that need action and improvement, he said.

Steel Ships chief executive Dr Ranjan Varghese explained during Riviera’s Vessel Optimisation Webinar Week why regular onboard system monitoring and deploying a maintenance decision support system were becoming more important as the global coronavirus pandemic limits travel between shore and ships.

“Cognitive maintenance is the only way forward. We are having serious problems with getting a complete crew on board,” Dr Varghese said.

Implementing the cognitive maintenance system is already producing results for Steel Ships. “We have increased availability and maintainability by 15%,” he said. “Failures have reduced by 30% and energy consumption by 6% to 10%. The reduction of spare parts consumption is between 7% to 15%.”

This all leads to operational expenditure reductions through optimisation and intelligence. “The ultimate goal is to keep the lifecycle cost of the vessel as low as possible. At the same time safety is not compromised,” said Dr Varghese. He noted how safety remained the most important element of shipping operations.

Data can be sourced from various sources on ships and used for different purposes, but this data needs to be processed and delivered to the correct people in a timely manner.

“There are tonnes of data coming from the vessel,” continued Dr Varghese, “all kinds of data for different parties, consumers, charterers, agents, owners and shipmanagers.”

He explained that to achieve fleetwide efficiency, all this data must be distilled properly. “It needs to be as easy to understand by the senior managers and the non-technical people as it is by the staff who are technically managing the ships.”

New technologies

World Maritime University (WMU) associate professor (safety and security) Dimitrios Dalaklis said new technologies were enhancing performance and the condition of ships. These include smart sensors, fleet digitalisation, cloud computing, internet-of-things and digital twins.

When combined, these solutions can contribute towards improved safety, logistics, fuel costs and lower emissions. “Take the concept of a digital twin for example,” Mr Dalaklis explained. “We can now create a theoretical model and manipulate it in real time to make changes that have an almost instantaneous result in the real world.”

This optimises the decision-making process by “using highly accurate data, saving costs and having a huge impact on efficiency, both during the development stage and when the model becomes a reality,” Mr Dalaklis said.

Class platform

Class society ABS has launched a platform for digital information from ship fleets. ABS My Digital Fleet provides data-driven insights for shipowners to improve fleet efficiency, reduce costs and help manage risks. This web-based platform fuses multiple data sources into a centralised digital system.

Applications within this platform can deliver real-time alerts to owners, enabling managers to see an asset’s performance in terms of regulatory compliance, fuel efficiency, structural and mechanical integrity.

“ABS My Digital Fleet aggregates these data sources into one online environment and derives insights by leveraging emerging technology, such as artificial intelligence,” said ABS chairman president and CEO Christopher Wiernicki.

Real-time installations

Höegh Autoliners partnered with MAN Energy Solutions and Kongsberg Digital to optimise engines and maintenance on a fleet of vehicle carriers in September 2020. MAN and Kongsberg cemented a memorandum of understanding (MoU) they signed in October 2019 with a firm agreement to collaborate in developing digitalisation solutions in the maritime industry, with Höegh Autoliners being the initial project.

These partners are validating real-time engine monitoring and digital assistance to optimise performance on a fleet of car carriers on fixed trade routes worldwide.

“For us at Höegh Autoliners, this collaboration is an important step towards the utilisation of digital solutions in optimising the running and maintenance of our engines in a safe and effective way,” said head of technical operations Geir Frode Abelsen.

Part of this project involves MAN’s PrimeServ Assist for engine data analysis. Kongsberg Digital is also providing its data infrastructure solution, Vessel Insight, for real-time data transfer.

Hanson Marine is investing in real-time monitoring of machinery on its new aggregate dredger, Hanson Thames. This is under construction by Damen Shipyards in Galati, Romania, and is expected to be delivered in Q1 2021.

Hanson Thames will feature Royston Diesel Power’s electronic fuel management system (EFMS) Enginei, as part of a comprehensive suite of advanced digital technologies.

Enginei uses Coriolis flow meters and sensors to accurately monitor the fuel being consumed by each vessel engine, when tracked against GPS data, voyage details and operational mode. The data is collected, processed, and relayed to bridge- and engineroom-mounted touchscreen monitors to enable the ship’s master to adjust vessel speed and take actions needed to reduce fuel consumption and emissions and equipment maintenance.

Future applications of AR/VR and digital twins

NYK Bulkship (Asia) operations director Capt K K Mukherjee expects developments in augmented and virtual reality and digital twins to enhance fleet management in the following areas:

• Training of personnel before they arrive to the vessel.
• Easing maintenance activities.
• Identifying trends of problems.
• Improving asset management.
• Documentation, record keeping and maintenance activities.
• Providing evidence of the ship’s history of repair and maintenance over its lifecycle.
• Identifying potentials areas or systems that need improvements.
• Implementation of various modes of autonomous shipping.

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New digital health technologies and increased awareness about public health due to the COVID-19 pandemic may pave the way for a fundamental shift in healthcare data privacy, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While Congress enacted HIPAA in 1996 to protect the privacy and disclosure of patient health data, technology has advanced rapidly since then with widespread transition from paper records to EHRs. Further, the law applies to patient data in the healthcare system, leaving uncertainty around its hold on tech companies that offer health-related services via apps and sensors.

Here are six things to know about the potential future of health data privacy in the U.S., according to the report.

1. Synthetic medical data, or de-identified data generated from real reports, may be used more for research as opposed to identifiable patient records and information since it is difficult to obtain due to privacy and ethical concerns.

2. Health researchers predict a future with smart homes, which feature technologies like mirrors that detect skin and heart conditions, mattresses that check vital signs and toilet seats that capture blood pressure. However, these types of bodily monitoring technologies may not be subject to HIPAA regulation if the companies developing the devices are outside the healthcare system.

3. Big data mining by tech giants including Google, Microsoft and Amazon will continue; Google has contracts with some hospital systems that allow the company to access millions of personally identifiable health records without patient input. Google uses the data to train machine learning algorithms to recognize clinical data patterns and said its efforts are not connected to its advertising business, but lawmakers, patients and physicians have expressed concerns that the data could be used improperly.

4. “Emergent medical data,” or millions of digital traces from social media accounts and devices that are plugged into algorithms to predict health outcomes, may also expand from data mining, said Mason Marks, PhD, a health law professor at Gonzaga University, adding that the concept is largely unregulated and could be used for consumer profiling or marketing purposes.

5. The COVID-19 pandemic may spur an increase in “solidarity-based healthcare,” which steers away from individual privacy rights and puts more attention on public health, said Nicholas Terry, executive director of Indiana University’s law and health center. This could lift privacy regulations around medical research and give scientists more access to personal health data.

6. Consumers may also gain more control over how their data is used and could be given the option of participating in different health surveillance programs or deciding if they want their information on social media platforms used for other purposes such as targeted advertising.

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SmartWash Solutions has released PPDL 2020, providing significant enhancements to Process Pro Data Live, the online tool for produce processing plant managers to monitor real-time performance of their wash lines’ water chemistry and quickly locate potential problems to improve efficiency and food safety.

The program boasts improved site speed, navigation and an impressive data dashboard, which can be accessed from any wi-fi enabled computer. Wash line data can be viewed and reacted to using the new PPDL 2020 Situational Awareness View screen, providing easy-to-interpret visual snapshots of the current status of all wash lines in operation. Data is displayed with eye-catching colors for warnings and alarms that could affect food-safety operations.

Wash system managers and technicians can use the PPDL 2020 data charts, reports and alerts to monitor equipment and chemical status, regardless of where the production operation is located. Thus, a SmartWash Solutions service technician in Europe can assess current wash system parameters and performance for a customers’ production facility anywhere in the world. PPDL 2020 includes historical data for verification and calibration of pH and chlorine sensors that allows the user to track sensor performance over time. An included electronic review and sign-off of verification and calibration events ensures FSMA compliance.

Wash line data is collected and recorded every six seconds for data mining, reporting and trend analysis. The program also includes historical records of wash lines for easy access to food safety documentation during audits, as well as system calibration performance reports for optimal transparency.

“PPDL 2020 is a one-stop-shop paired with a SmartWash system, providing transparency, validation and accountability to wash line chemistry performance,” SmartWash Solutions engineer Greg Martin-Rolsky said. “Managers and techs can now respond even more quickly to system alerts, improving operational efficiency and optimizing food safety.”

SmartWash system operational documents are now accessible directly through PPDL 2020, ensuring users always have access to the latest information for use, calibration and reporting of their wash system equipment. Plans for bilingual language settings are in the near future, along with additional developments. SmartWash Solutions does currently offer support and training materials in both English and Spanish.

With COVID-19 affecting in-person support, SmartWash Solutions’ partners have benefited from improved virtual insight and access to technicians with shared reviews of real-time wash line data.

“With a global client base, the PPDL 2020 data connection allows us to remotely view clients’ systems from our North American and European offices so we can assess the real-time operating condition and decide if a SmartWash technician needs to visit a plant to perform physical maintenance,” Martin-Rolsky said. “When it comes to wash line efficiency and food safety, PPDL 2020 is a real game-changer.”

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Ninjas in Pyjamas is partnering with Esports Charts, a data-mining and analytical agency for esports, the organization announced today. Esports Charts is “one of the largest public sources of streaming analytics” and it also covers traditional sports and entertainment.

Esports Charts “will provide up-to-date analytical data, which will help Ninjas in Pyjamas make the right decisions,” according to NiP’s announcement.

“As esports continues down the path of professionalization, the value of accurate data grows exponentially,” said Michael Tidebäck, head of product and relations at Ninjas in Pyjamas. “More is unquestionably better, and ESCharts is market-leading when it comes to match tracking statistics.”

Esports Charts is also partnered with Alliance, Fnatic, Team Liquid, StarLadder, TSM, and Astralis. The agency collects, researches, processes, and analyzes data and statistics of live tournaments, real-time in-game events, player and team performances, and even spectator reactions and emotional contexts.

Data analysis is a step toward professionalization in esports. It’s been highly used in traditional sports. A famous example is the 2011 movie Moneyball featuring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. 

Moneyball is based on Michael Lewis’ 2003 nonfiction book of the same name about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager, Billy Beane. The book and movie portray the start of statistics and analytics being used in baseball, known as sabermetrics.

NiP, founded in 2000, is home to players in CS:GO, Dota 2, VALORANT, FIFA, and Rainbow Six, according to its website.

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Microsoft announced July 8 a new artificial intelligence tool for its cloud platform Azure that allows developers to analyze unstructured medical data, including clinical notes, clinical trial protocols and medical publications. 

Microsoft’s Text Analytics for health allows researchers, data analysts and medical professionals to detect words and phrases from unstructured text and connect them to relevant healthcare and biomedical concepts, such as diagnoses, medication names and treatments. Users can extract more than 100 types of personally identifiable information, including protected health information, in unstructured text. 

The AI tool also links entities to medical ontologies and coding systems, such as the Unified Medical Language System, to detect connections between medical concepts mentioned in text. For example, the tool can be used to find the relationship between a medication name and the dosage associated with it.  

Medical researchers and data analysts can use the tool to create analytics on historical medical data, develop prediction models and match patients to clinical trials. Seattle-based Allen Institute for AI used it to develop a COVID-19 search engine allowing researchers to more quickly analyze coronavirus information. The institute, founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2014, partnered with the University College London to review medical research reports. 

“We have been partnering with engineers at Microsoft and data scientists to build a ‘living’ reviews system – that automatically identifies relevant research for reviews as they are published,” James Thomas, a professor at University College London, stated in a news release. “Text Analytics for health provides a powerful tool for extracting insights from clinical literature, with rich support for a wide range of healthcare terminology so that we can more quickly and accurately identify relevant information.” 

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Dogan Technologies is at the forefront of helping organizations crack the code of big data and translate it into meaningful results. Thanks to a team of experts that includes professors, entrepreneurs, developers and scientists, the tech company has grown in popularity and acceptance with organizations worldwide. Dogan’s main focus is on building the tools of tomorrow that will help identify underlying patterns in data, or discover current and future market trends.

Creative minds with a meticulous focus on communication and results has made Dogan Technologies a preferred partner for cutting edge projects in data mining, analytics and artificial intelligence. Dogan informs clients about current trends, future directions, and helps make decisions based on hard data. Any company, big or small, that needs to launch a new initiative based on data is welcome at Dogan.

“We help organizations manage and understand the potential implications in their data. We have bootstrapped our business so far and are now looking for seed funding,” says a spokesperson for Dogan Technologies.

Among the solutions, Dogan builds software and uses data analytics to model raw data into meaningful information for supporting larger software. The team makes cloud and SaaS software, and offers data mining to uncover underlying trends and patterns. All products are created on time, are well documented, and a seamless flow of communication is maintained at all times.

“Very seamless in communication, and did a great job on the project! Would love to work with them again in the near future and would recommend based on their computer vision skills,” says a recent client.

Dogan experts in AI drive products help clients reimagine their operations for a digital age. The machine learning solutions are built with the latest and most advanced algorithms. Another Dogan specialty is deep learning, such as the image recognition algorithms for detecting objects and used in image segmentation.

Having worked with Fortune 500 companies has given Dogan a wide perspective, while working with startups has allowed the team to hone deeper, ground level skills. At base lies the belief that the new world will be shaped by intelligent software and data driven initiatives.

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Joe Lonsdale said on CNBC on Monday that his fellow Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel was “courageous” for speaking out against Alphabet’s Google.

“Google is not a patriotic company,” said Lonsdale, also a founding partner of technology investment firm 8VC.

Lonsdale was responding to the criticism levied since Thiel on Sunday said the FBI and the CIA should investigate whether Google has been infiltrated by Chinese intelligence.

Thiel, also a Facebook board member and a supporter of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C., and Axios reported on his speech.

“Everyone in [Silicon] Valley knows that the Chinese government is very involved,” Lonsdale told “Squawk Alley” in an interview, though he didn’t point to any clear evidence. “It’s something we don’t talk about a lot. It was very courageous of [Thiel] to talk about it.”

Google, responding to Thiel’s comments, said, “As we have said before, we do not work with the Chinese military.”

The environment at Google is very “academic,” Lonsdale said, where people want to share their work across the world. “There’s nationalists in China coming and taking whatever they can learn and taking it back and using it for their own nationalist purposes.”

Lonsdale also commented on Google’s contract with the Defense Department, which expired earlier this year and was not renewed. “When Google made the choice ‘we’re not going to help the U.S., but we’re going to continue to work in China,’ it was very clear,” Lonsdale said of the company’s patriotism.

Silicon Valley-based Palantir, the data analytics miner, has worked with many agencies of the U.S. government, including the Defense Department, CIA and FBI. Lonsdale on Monday called Palantir “probably the most patriotic in the Valley.”

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