RISKS ASSESSMENT OF APPLYING UNMANNED MEANS OF WATER TRANSPORT IN THE WATER AREA
The range of dangers and associated risks, when introducing unmanned means of water transport are discussed in the paper. The phased introduction of vessels with various degree of autonomy (from “smart vessels” with a traditional crew on board to completely unmanned vessels), their simultaneous operation creates a situation of transformation of already explored in the scientific literature hazards for the navigation safety, as well as the emergence of new dangers associated with operational features of autonomous systems of unmanned ships, the use of new innovative technologies. An approach to the systematization of dangers and an assessment of their risk, which is advisable to use when analyzing new solutions, which include unmanned means of water transport is proposed. It includes two qualitative assessments: the risks of operating unmanned means of water transport and the risks of using new technologies when creating autonomous systems of unmanned means of water transport. For the first case, a model approach is used that considers autonomous vessels as models of systems. The following enlarged models are distinguished: on-board autonomous systems, control center system and water area system. Such implementing the model approach, the several groups of functions that cover all aspects of operations on the vessel are identified: the voyage route, navigation during the voyage, detection of navigational and environmental conditions of shipping, safety of navigation and emergencies, vessel safety, hull strength, passenger management, cargo management, technical infrastructure. To assess the risk of applying new technologies, it is proposed to use the following factors: the degree of reliability of used technology and the level of technology autonomy. The range of methods of risk analysis includes 31 methods. The choice of analysis methods depends on a sufficiently large number of factors. At the present stage of development of unmanned ship systems, it is possible to obtain a qualitative risk assessment. The following methods are noteworthy: HAZOP hazard and operability studies, FMEA failure modes and consequences analysis, «bow-tie» analysis. The ALARP principle is applied to present the results of the analysis of the risk matrix.