After two years of research and development, prototypes implementation, testing and individual validation campaigns, the Final Pilot Demonstration of SafePASS project was held on the 23rd of February 2022 at Saint Nazaire, France. The demonstration took place onboard “Celebrity Beyond” cruise ship, the newest cruise ship of Royal Caribbean Group, one of the leading cruise companies in the world. “Celebrity Beyond” is constructed by Chantiers De L’Atlantique, one of the world’s largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. The demonstration was conducted during its final construction stage.
For the preparation of the demonstration, consortium partners spent five days onboard, during which they worked on the installation of equipment and components in several areas of the ship, as well as on their integration and testing in a real ship environment. In more detail, the demonstration took place in 4 decks including passenger cabin corridors, staircases and large public spaces. The pilot demonstration consisted of five complex and critical evacuation scenarios, including fire and flooding incidents under different location, time and weather conditions. In each scenario a series of different steps was performed, including identification and assessment of incidents, activation of General Alarm, assembly of passengers at the muster and embarkation stations, as well as crew response to different emergency situations.
During the demonstration, a great number of volunteers and the consortium members took part in the evacuation exercises performed, having the opportunity to use the SafePASS solutions and gain hands-on experience of the novel technologies implemented. In parallel relevant stakeholders attended the pilot demonstration and monitored the execution of the different evacuation scenarios and the use of the SafePASS solutions in real-time through the advanced operation and control user interface (Common Operational Picture). The Passenger Mobile Application, the Dynamic Exit Signs, the Common Operational Picture, the Smart Lifejackets, the Smart Wristbands, the Augmented Reality applications and other innovative solutions were successfully tested under real conditions, improving significantly the evacuation procedure and the overall safety of people onboard.
SafePASS is an H2020 project coordinated by ISense Group and the Laboratory for Maritime Transport (LMT) of the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, two research groups of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). For further information, please visit the project’s website: www.safepass-project.eu
As expected, after all these months of hard work performed within this innovative project, the SafePASS Final Pilot Demonstration was a success!
