This document proposes the design of an autonomous, battery-operated ship for use on India's inland waterways to increase efficiency and profit margins. Key aspects of the design include removing ballast tanks through a raked keel design, automating machinery, using vector propulsion via azimuth thrusters, and fully battery-powered electric propulsion. Simulations show the design reduces resistance, increases payload capacity, and lowers energy consumption compared to current inland vessels. The aim is to create a ship that requires no manual operation or maintenance to ply autonomously on National Waterway 1 in India.

1. Inland Waterway Automation
Aryan Chadha
Dept. of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering
Amet University
Chennai, India
aryan.chad3515@gmail.com
Bonny Kurian
Dept. of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering
Amet University
Chennai, India
kurian.bonny@gmail.com
Abstract— this paper aims at designing a completely
autonomous battery operated ballast free ship meant for plying
in the inland waterways of India. Thereby, increasing the profit
margins in the longer run in a cleaner and more efficient manner.
This project is conceptual as of now with respect to the marine
industry however automation is the need of the hour as shown to
us by various other industries like aviation and road transport.
Keywords—automation; ballast free; inland waterway; battery
operated ship; inclined keel
I. INTRODUCTION
India is endowed with a variety of navigable waterways
comprising river systems, canals, back waters, creeks, and
tidal inlets. However, navigation by mechanized crafts is
possible only over a limited length covering about half of the
reported navigable waterways.
The navigable waterways are confined to a few States and are
location specific. The Inland Water Transport (IWT) is
functionally important in regions covered by the Brahmputra
and the Ganges in the North East and Eastern parts of the
country, Kerala, Goa and in the deltas of the rivers of Krishna
and Godavari where IWT offers natural advantages.
IWT has an important role to play in many parts of the
country since it offers an economic, energy efficient,
employment intensive and almost pollutant free mode of
transport service.
II. INLAND WATERWAYS
A. National Waterway I (NW 1)
The Ganga Bhagirathi Hooghly river system between Haldia
(Sagar) & Allahabad (1620 km) was declared as National
Waterway No.1 (NW1) in 1986. Haldia, BISN (Kolkata),
Pakur, Farrakka, Patna, Varanasi, Chunar and Allahabad.
This is the largest operable waterway.
B. National waterways 2,3,4,5&6
Other waterways are NW 2 –Sadiya to Dhubri (891 km)
and NW 3 – Kottapuram to Kollam (205 km) , NW 4 -
Kakinada to Pondicherry ( 1095 km ), NW 5 - Talcher to
Dhamra ( 623 km ), NW 6 – Lakhipur to Bhanga ( 121 km ).
III. CARGO MOVEMENT ON NATIONAL WATERWAY
With reference to the data published by the Ministry of
Shipping (India), certain facts were taken into consideration
i.e. maximum cargo movement route, nature and quantity of
the cargo even conventional load transport per ship.
From table 1 it can be seen that NW 1 has the most movement
of cargo and has also shown growth in the same. Over the
years the overall demand in all national waterways have risen
which makes this an area of emergence.
Also building materials, food items and coal were found to be
the commodities which have the maximum demand.
IV. PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATIONS
The route chosen is NW 1. The commodities selected are
building materials, food items and coal which are both
containerized and bulked. Therefore, a base model in
accordance with the limitations published in the annual report
by the Ministry of Shipping was generated. This model
measured 60 m in length, 14.5 m in breadth, with a draft of 5m
and having a deadweight of 1300 tonnes.

2. V. THE NEED OF THE HOUR (AUTOMATION)
The data produced by the ministry of shipping for inland
waterways is alarming. The safety record of inland waterway
transport is relatively poor with an average of 200 fatalities
every year. About 255 persons died and 179 persons were
critically injured in the year 2014 itself. Most of these
incidents are caused due to human errors.
Hence, introduction of automation in order to support or
replace the human element would drastically reduce such
occurrences. Further the margins in this industry are low due
to human resource expenditures and various other
maintenance charges. The concept of automation is to reduce
these expenditures thereby increasing the revenue earned by
the transport companies.
VI. INLAND WATERWAY AUTOMATION PROJECT – X
(IWA-X)
The main aim of the design is to eliminate certain factors
which require maintenance or need physical human interaction
to work. A base model was studied and the various
components were automated in an orderly manner.
Following are the elements chosen for automation-
 Ballast Tanks – During the de-ballasting process the
local ecosystem may adversely be affected due to
sudden temperature changes also due to foreign
particles and micro-organisms present in the de-
ballasted water. Such threats to the marine biodiversity
can be avoided by eliminating ballast tanks.
Furthermore, the maintenance of such tanks will be
eliminated.
 Rotating machinery – These have an increased chance
of break down and require continuous maintenance.
 Rudder – Choice of vector thrusting over unidirectional
propulsion systems increases efficiency significantly.
 Anchor and Mooring lines – Removing anchors and
associated machinery reduces weight.
VII. THE PROCESS
The conceptual design methodology has been implemented
for this project :
Design Evaluate Redesign
A number of 3D modelling and marine design softwares
were used to design and do various calculations.
Softwares used-
 AutoCAD - Generation of lines plan
 Rhinoceros – Surface and Contour preparation
 Delft ship pro – Hull form optimization,
resistance and power calculations.
 NAPA – Hydrostatic study
VIII. BALLAST FREE DESIGN
The Base model was put into DELFT ship and following a
design philosophy of raked keel which is generally used for
warships which reduces the need of ballast and even gives the
vessel a design trim towards aft. They are applied to improve
the pulling power of fishing vessels and tugboats.
Since the hull form optimizations are done keeping the
displacement constant, the amount of area removed from
forward was added at the aft stations. In this process the
longitudinal center of floatation (LCF) which is the center of
the water plane area was brought aft ward making the ship
trim toward aft while in lightship condition and again come
back to even keel position when cargo is loaded.
The sectional area curve was plotted to check that the volume
does not differ from base model.(In appendix)
As the ship is to sail on the NW 1 where ports are set up at the
points where depths change, therefore the loading can be
configured to suite the route’s depth in order to maintain the
ground clearance and even wave loading is minute in this area.
Longitudinal Stability is a concern when such changes on hull
are done and therefore to check we used NAPA for hydrostatic
calculation for fully loaded and lightship conditions.
The results were found to be satisfactory as in both cases the
metacentric height was found to be positive and thus all the
loading conditions in this range are safe and applicable.
On the basis of these facts and figures the necessity of ballast
is removed seeing that the ship is stable is all conditions , the
propeller has sufficient immersion and as wave loading is
minute in the area of operation hence dynamic stability will
not be problem. Further benefits of this are the Reduction in
Resistance which contribute to power saving properties of the
hull form.

3. Straight Bow & the Transom
A straight bow was chosen over the conventional raked bow to
support the ballast free design in order to get the same shape
or angle of entrance at all loading conditions. The straight bow
is also efficient in alluvial rivers where the current is the major
factor. The stem is designed in a “U shape” to keep waterlines
and flare almost same at all trims. Since the area of operation
has very less wave loading and the speed of the vessel is also
low the use of straight bow is justified.
In the aft the transom was again designed on basis of the trim
conditions the idea was to put a transom stern and obtain
better flow patterns in the aft region.
IX. RESISTANCE & POWERING
Delft ship was used to calculate the calm water resistance of
the hull using delft series (’98).
The following graph is the representation of the results –
Formulae –
Wind Resistance was calculated taking into consideration the
worst case scenario with the formulae-
The time taken by IWA- X in port is lesser than the other
vessels and hence the speed was reduced to 6 knots from an
initial speed of 8 knots as this was found more efficient for the
given constraints.
X. PROPULSION & MANUVERING
In order to automate the propulsion system and reduce the use
of rotating machinery which increases the chance of break
down, a system with vector thrusting and outboard operability
is to be selected. The use of azipods will be ideal for the
situation. So, to meet the demand of propulsion two azipods of
the Rolls-Royce US range comprising standard Z-drive units
with input powers from 250 – 3,700kW to deliver a bollard
pull ranging from 11 to over 120 tonnes were chosen.
Also the modular design allows the configuration, mounting
type and size to be closely matched to user requirements. They
are available with contra-rotating propellers for high
propulsive efficiency with shallow draft propellers, open or
ducted, with diameters to suit the vessel application.
Since the optimized hull is of inclined keel nature the
Diameter of the propeller blades can be increased while
reducing the number of blades by which we can achieve
higher thrust power and reduce the occurrence of cavitation.
A retractable bow thruster will be attached to the keel for
better maneuverability. The Rolls-Royce UL type provides
fast hydraulic lifting and lowering of the unit, enabling it to
retract into the hull when not in use, reducing the vessel’s
drag.

4. XI. BATTERY
For a long time, the battery has been used in ships as a UPS
(Uninterruptible Power Supply) for emergency situations.
As technologies have developed, taking them a step further,
the battery has been widely regarded as an auxiliary or main
power source because of the following benefits-
• Fast response & peak saving
• Reducing mechanical noise
• Less maintenance time & costs
• Low emissions & fuel saving
• Redundancy available
• More energy-efficient
• Easy to apply new & renewable power sources
Based on the above benefits, the battery can help to meet
the marine environmental regulations of the IMO and policies
employed nowadays in major world ports (Long Beach in the
U.S., Rotterdam in the Netherlands, etc.) that require eco-
friendly solutions, as shown below,
For IWA-X three units of Saft Marine IM 20E High
energy plus batteries are compatible based on the previous
calculations.
The specifications of the battery are following-
The charge time of 4 hours is calculated found to be sufficient
at an optimum power of 150 kW. 
XII. AUTONOUMOUS OPERATION
IWA-X is an ideal candidate for unmanned operation. By
being battery powered and ballast free the ship has been
designed to minimize the need for continuous maintenance.
IWA-X has a minimal need for rotating equipment, with the
only rotating equipment on board being the propulsion pods
and the bow thruster which in turn are located outside the ship
hull.
The propulsion system, with two 360deg turn able stern pods
and a 360deg turn able and retractable bow thruster allows for
dynamic positioning capabilities. This can be implemented as
a fail to safe strategy in case of emergency, where the ship
would put itself in Dynamic Positioning mode if safe
navigation is threatened.
Navigation
A specific flow of control is to be followed in order to achieve
the goal.
1) Input of destination on GPS – Global Positioning System
which will be corrected via DGPS – Differential Global
Positioning System.
2) Processing will take place using AIS – Automatic
Identification System and VTS – Vessel Tracking Service
3) Reference for route condition can be made through RIS –
River Information System and onboard cameras.
4) Critical Decision making can be done by the shore based
operator using visual and technical data.
5) Prompt signaling can be done by nearby ships for
indications.
6) Output achieved shall be the delivery
All the technologies mentioned exist today.
The flowchart of control-
Mooring and loading.
Due to IWA-X’s low service speed, it’s important not to waste
unnecessary time at port, and a quick turnaround time in port
is of the essence. By using state of the art technology in
automatic mooring systems, like grip arm or vacuum-based
mooring, the IWA-X will be moored fast and without the need
of ropes and winches which are highly dependent of manual
assistance and are subject to regular maintenance.
Automatic hopper loading systems for bulk carriers are
available today which by means of pipes and suction arms
load or unload bulk cargo.

5. The time span at port-
XIII. CONCLUSION
Comparision
On comparing the results with that of the current operating
vessels which was taken as base for optimization the following
results were obtained-
The operational profile comparison on the basis of time,
power and energy is done to specify the energy demand and
work output of the vessels.
From the calculation it can be seen that although IWA-X
covers a greater distance than the base vessel on a yearly
basis, the energy requirement is much smaller than the energy
consumed the base vessel.
Further it is clear from the results that although the
capacity of the vessels are same, IWA-X produces
significantly more work output than the base vessel. The
power being used for the IWA-X is electricity via battery
storage method over the conventional fossil fuel being used
for the base vessel the emissions of harmful gases is
eliminated making it suitable for future standards and codes.
The mechanisms for IWA-X reduce human effort and even the
need of maintenance making it fit for autonomous use. By
doing so, factors such as human safety, time consumption and
the even the energy requirements which play a major role in
the shipping industry have been optimized in a considerable
manner.
The work output of the industry can be increased based on this
study increasing the margins in a significant manner.
The optimization of the hull form which was found ideal for
implementation on vessels on the national waterways can be
used to improve operations over the current designs.
As a result, the objective of the project has been achieved
and the future use of the same can be expected.
References
Various textbooks, guideline books for softwares, data
published by the ministry of shipping (India) and Intellectual
sites were used to develop this paper.
The following are the notable references
[1] Wikipedia for basic information
[2] Saft marine battery brochure.
[3] Rolls Royce Thruster brochure.
[4] Annual report (2014-2015) published by the ministry of shipping
(India).
[5] Data published by the ministry of shipping (India) on national
waterways.
[6] Ship design for efficiency & economy, H Schneekluth.
[7] Basic ship propulsion,Ghose and Gokarn.
[8] Principles of Naval Architecture, volume II, Edward Lewis.