On November 4, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering stated that it developed an integrated ship platform using mixed reality (MR) technology, the "DW-3000F Surface Ship MR System." This is also the first virtual experience platform for ship construction in the shipbuilding industry.
Daewoo Shipbuilding stated that the platform combines virtual reality and augmented reality into mixed reality technology, allowing users to experience all processes of shipbuilding. The platform can display virtual ships to customers during meetings, which will help win more ship orders. At the same time, it will help reduce shipbuilding costs by allowing workers to easily confirm information about the ship being constructed.
It is understood that mixed reality (MR) technology is a further development of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies. By introducing real-world scene information into a virtual environment, the technology creates an interactive feedback information loop among the virtual world, the real world, and the user to enhance the realism of the user experience. MR is an upgrade of AR technology. It can seamlessly merge the virtual world and the real world into a blended virtual-real world, where physical entities and digital objects satisfy real three-dimensional projection relationships, resulting in a new visualized environment.
The "DW-3000F Surface Ship MR System" developed by Daewoo Shipbuilding features the ability to virtually experience the entire shipbuilding process—from order receipt, design, construction, and maintenance to crew training—in an environment identical to that of an actual ship.
According to Daewoo Shipbuilding, with this system, at meetings for negotiation with ship buyers, simply starting a tablet PC will bring a virtual ship into view, along with the weapon systems that can be applied to the ship and their detailed information, allowing the ship buyer to directly select the desired configuration. Meanwhile, the equipment of the ship's internal compartments can also be selected in the same way. In addition, the ship can be virtually operated, making it easy to confirm the startup procedures and maintenance management procedures of the major equipment mounted on the ship.
In particular, the system can also be applied to shipbuilding production sites, where design and work personnel can directly confirm basic information on ship construction, construction processes, equipment startup guides, and maintenance-related information on site, thereby improving production efficiency. Daewoo Shipbuilding stated that this can prevent recurring problems during ship construction from happening again and guard against risk factors, not only reducing safety accidents but also saving construction costs.
A responsible official from Daewoo Shipbuilding who participated in the system's development said: 'As the company accelerates its digital transformation, by developing the MR comprehensive ship platform, we will further enhance the company's future competitiveness. We expect that this integrated solution based on a digital platform will be applied throughout the entire life cycle of ships—design, construction, navigation, and maintenance—to support business and order acquisition, and become the foundation for the company to strengthen its business competitiveness and create new added value in the future.'
It is reported that the MR ship integrated platform developed by Daewoo Shipbuilding this time completed its patent application in September this year and is preparing for registration review. In addition, Daewoo Shipbuilding also plans to expand the application of MR technology to the company’s main ship type products such as merchant ships and offshore engineering equipment, providing the world’s highest technical capability to shipowners worldwide.
It is understood that the “DW-3000F” is a new frigate previously ordered by the Royal Thai Navy from Daewoo Shipbuilding. This ship type is improved based on the Republic of Korea Navy’s KDX-1 ‘Gwanggaeto the Great’ class destroyer. It adopts U.S. military standards in design and construction, is 123 meters long and 14.4 meters wide, with a full-load displacement of 3,650 tons, and can continuously sail about 4,000 nautical miles at a speed of about 30 knots. It features stealth design and costs about $416 million.
