The goal is to increase safety on tug boats. During towing operations large forces are applied on a tug through the towline.
The combination of the forces together with other parameters like engine power, heeling, tank levels, speed and direction through water and speed and direction of assisted vessel influence the stability of the tug.
The captain is not able to continuously examine all these parameters. Therefore, the captain is mainly using his sight and
‘Fingerspitzengefühl’ to estimate the safety of the tug. The quality of his estimation is mainly based on experience.

The captain has to estimate the stability of his tug based on the behavioral conditions of the tug. The number of different parameters make it hard to always make a right decision. The captain has to optimize for both safety and efficiency just from the inputs of his senses, making a reliable judgement only possible through years of experience. A hydrostatic and hydrodynamic simulation already exists. One essential input parameter is missing and Damen doesn’t have a measuring technology in place for it.
This parameter is the angle of the tow line. By including the angle into the simulation the model will be improved.
Extensive sea trials (dry-test and sea-trails) with mechanical measurement technologies have already been done. Each of these experiments were unsuccessful as the mechanical measurement technologies were either too fragile causing it to break or too bulky and hampering the operations.
Damen is looking for system that can be implied on the boats and increase safety of towing operations drastically and not subjective to personnel training and experience. Damen yearly delivers about 40 to 70 tugs and they should all be foreseen with this this system.