Renderbit Technologies was engaged by a ship management company to develop a vessel energy monitoring solution that provides real-time and continuous monitoring of on-vessel equipment such as main engines, auxiliary engines, pumps, and air conditioning units. The solution was designed to track energy use and efficiency, provide real-time alerts, and enable data-driven insights into energy consumption across different vessel components. The project was implemented in phases, beginning with hardware integration and HMI dashboards, followed by cloud deployment and satellite communication for real-time vessel-to-shore data links.
The ship management company faced several key challenges in energy monitoring:
- Lack of Real-Time Energy Data: On-vessel equipment energy usage was not monitored in real time, leading to inefficiencies in fuel consumption and overall energy management.
- Manual Data Collection: Energy consumption data was manually recorded and processed, which led to delays in identifying energy inefficiencies and issues.
- Inconsistent Data Aggregation: The absence of a centralized system to aggregate data from various equipment made it difficult to analyze and optimize energy use.
- Limited Access to Insights: There was no system in place to provide historical data or analytics on energy consumption patterns, making it hard to implement energy-saving measures.
Renderbit Technologies developed a comprehensive vessel energy monitoring solution, starting with hardware integration on-board vessels and cloud-based dashboards for on-shore monitoring. Key components of the solution included:
- Real-Time Data Monitoring: An HMI dashboard was set up on a Windows-based machine on the vessel, enabling real-time monitoring of energy consumption for all key equipment, including engines, pumps, and air conditioning units.
- Historical Data Visualization: The system allowed crew members to view historical time series data and track energy usage over specific periods, helping to identify patterns of inefficiency.
- Local Data Aggregation and Sync: Energy data was aggregated locally on the vessel and automatically synced with the cloud dashboard when the vessel was within range of the network. The system also supported offline data export in CSV, XLS, and PDF formats.
- Manual Data Export: In the event of connectivity issues, the system allowed manual data exports for offline reporting and analysis.
- Real-Time Vessel Monitoring: The cloud dashboard provided real-time energy data from the vessel to on-shore management teams, enabling proactive monitoring and decision-making.
- Historical Data and Reports: On-shore users could access historical energy consumption data and generate downloadable reports in CSV, XLS, and PDF formats.
- Manual Data Entry and Import: The system allowed manual entry of data and supported the import of large datasets for comprehensive analysis.
- Export for R Studio Integration: Raw datasets could be exported in a format compatible with R Studio for advanced statistical analysis and data science workflows.
- API Integration with Hardware Units: The vessel’s energy monitoring hardware units were integrated via APIs, with data exchanged in JSON or XML format.
- Gateway Device Integration: The system was integrated with the XGate6 gateway device for data aggregation and communication, using the RS485 protocol for hardware connections.
- Cloud Deployment on AWS: The entire system was deployed on AWS, leveraging AWS EC2, RDS, and other services for scalable, secure data management.
- Online and Offline Functionality: The system was designed to work both online and offline, ensuring continuous data collection even in remote areas where satellite communication was not always available.
- Demo Setup: A demo of the energy monitoring solution was set up using a ThingsBoard server hosted on AWS. Canned data was used for the initial demo linked to a custom domain.
- Custom Dashboard: A customized dashboard (using FusionCharts) was created to display energy data and branded as per customer requirements.
- FusionCharts for Production: Evaluated FusionCharts for production use to provide advanced data visualization and interactive dashboards for energy consumption data.
- ThingsBoard for Production: Evaluated ThingsBoard as a potential platform for handling energy data ingest, visualization, and alerts.
- XGate6 IoT Gateway Evaluation: Assessed the suitability of the XGate6 IoT Gateway for data collation and transport over satellite communication (SatCom).
- AWS Network and Security Architecture: The system’s architecture included static IPs for SatCom transport, with AWS security best practices such as VPCs, firewalls, and data encryption to ensure secure and private data transmission.
- AWS VPC Setup: A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) was configured for secure data transport from the vessel to the cloud, enabling reliable vessel-to-shore communication.
- Testing and Firewall White-Listing: The system was thoroughly tested to ensure seamless data communication over satellite links, with firewalls configured to white-list trusted IPs.
- Energy Monitoring for Multiple Devices: The system supported up to 40 on-board devices for each vessel, each with up to 20 parameters for energy monitoring. It included real-time and historical data processing, with REST API endpoints for each parameter per device.
- Pre-Compute and Cache Optimization: Data pre-compute configurations were set up to optimize performance for streaming data and moving averages, with Redis cache for frequently queried data.
- Time-Series Graphs and Switchboards: The front-end featured time-series graphs for each device and parameter, with a device switchboard for easy navigation. Users could configure the time duration for each graph.
- Custom Branding and Real-Time Data Streaming: The front-end was customized with the ship management company’s branding, and real-time data was streamed for live updates.
- AWS Security Architecture: A hybrid cloud architecture was implemented, combining public cloud services with on-premises data management. The system included RDS, EBS, and a data warehouse for scalability.
- Load-Balanced Deployment: AWS load balancing and failover strategies ensured high availability and performance under variable data loads.
- Data Privacy and Scalability: VPC partitioning was implemented to silo data per customer, ensuring that data from different vessels remained secure and accessible only to authorized users.
- Real-Time Energy Monitoring: Developed a robust energy monitoring solution that provided real-time visibility into the energy usage of various on-vessel equipment.
- Custom Dashboard Development: Created on-board and cloud-based dashboards for real-time monitoring, historical data visualization, and reporting.
- Satellite Communication Setup: Configured a secure, reliable data link between the vessel and the cloud using SatCom, enabling continuous data flow even in remote locations.
- Scalable Cloud Deployment: Deployed the system on AWS using containerized applications for scalability, security, and easy management.
- ThingsBoard and FusionCharts: For real-time data visualization and custom dashboard development.
- XGate6 IoT Gateway: For data aggregation and transmission from vessel hardware to the cloud.
- AWS (EC2, RDS, VPC, EBS): For scalable cloud infrastructure, data storage, and secure communication.
- Docker & Kubernetes: For containerized application deployment, ensuring scalability and efficient resource management.
- Redis Cache: For optimizing data retrieval and improving query performance.
The Vessel Energy Monitoring Solution delivered significant value to the ship management company by providing:
- Increased Energy Efficiency: Real-time monitoring and historical analysis enabled the company to identify inefficiencies in energy use and optimize equipment performance.
- Proactive Maintenance: The system’s real-time alerts and monitoring allowed for timely maintenance interventions, reducing equipment downtime and improving vessel performance.
- Enhanced Data-Driven Decision Making: The system provided actionable insights into energy consumption patterns, enabling the company to make informed decisions about equipment usage and energy management.
- Scalability and Flexibility: The AWS-based architecture allowed the system to scale as the company added more vessels and equipment to the monitoring network.
Renderbit Technologies successfully developed and deployed a comprehensive vessel energy monitoring solution for the ship management company. By integrating real-time energy monitoring, cloud-based dashboards, and secure satellite communication, the solution significantly improved the company’s ability to track energy usage, optimize equipment performance, and make data-driven decisions. The scalable and flexible architecture ensures the system can grow with the company’s evolving needs, positioning them for long-term operational efficiency and success.