SimSea

Complete maritime simulator systems for training, planning, and testing

Simulation for Maritime and Offshore Work

SimSea helps teams rehearse procedures, train operators, test control logic, and study vessel or equipment behaviour before the real operation takes place. It can be delivered as a complete simulator system with software, operator controls, displays, instructor stations, computing hardware, and integration.

Operator Training and Competency Assessment

For crane operators, dredge masters, cable engineers, barge captains, and mooring crews. Where formal certification is required, configurations are scoped against the applicable simulator standard.

Engineering Validation and HIL Testing

For control systems, automation logic, and PLC subsystems before offshore deployment.

Procedure Rehearsal and Operational Planning

For complex, high-risk campaigns including crane transfers, cable laying, jack-up placement, and dredging cycles.

Vessel and Operation Configurations

SimSea configurations are designed around the following vessel types and operations, and tailored to each project.

Floating Crane Vessels

Coupled vessel and crane dynamics. Supports single-hook, double-hook, and tandem lifts with Active Heave Compensation (AHC) modelling. Primary scenario: ship-to-ship cargo transfer.

Jack-up Platforms

Transit (floating), jacking, and elevated phases. Leg loads, preload, and elevated wind exposure are modelled; seabed penetration and punch-through behaviour use project-specific geotechnical input.

Small Crane Vessels

Offshore wind O&M CTVs and SOVs handling frequent lifts. Hull hydrodynamics tuned for smaller displacement. Realistic load charts reflecting the tighter operational envelope.

Cable Lay Vessels

Dynamic catenary cable model with axial and bending response. Tensioner dynamics, touch-down point monitoring, and bend radius management for subsea power cable and umbilical operations.

Barge and Mooring Operations

Mooring line mechanics (elastic elongation, catenary shape, anchor holding) with barge hydrodynamics for free-floating and moored configurations. Supports multi-point moorings and load-out operations.

Dredging (TSHD and CSD)

TSHD: drag arm and suction pipe dynamics, pump behaviour, and the dredging cycle, with soil and hopper behaviour from calibrated empirical models. CSD: cutter ladder, spud positioning, swing wire tensions, and pump and pipeline behaviour.

Platform Capabilities

Physics and Environment

Configurable wave spectra (JONSWAP, Pierson-Moskowitz, user-defined), gust wind profiles, and depth-stratified currents. Hydrodynamics come from panel-method diffraction and radiation analysis with convolution-integral time-domain forces, the approach used by established offshore analysis tools. Independent control of sea state, visibility, daylight, and precipitation.

Equipment Fidelity

Simulated equipment carries realistic limits: crane load charts, tensioner capacity, winch speed/torque curves, pump performance, thruster authority, jacking force. Safety systems (overload switches, emergency brakes, AHC logic) are modelled on the real asset's configuration.

Scenario Library and Engine

Each configuration ships with a base scenario library covering routine operations, high-risk procedures, and emergency drills. Trainers can define environmental profiles, scripted faults, trigger conditions, success criteria, and branching logic.

The Same Machine Model as the Commissioning Twin

SimSea is the physics engine of the MimeSeas platform. It does not keep its own copy of the vessel: it works on the same shared digital twin and the same equipment library that virtual commissioning uses, which has two practical consequences.

The simulator your operators train on and the twin your engineers validate control code against are one model. Tuning a winch, a crane, or a tensioner improves both at once, with nothing to reconcile between a training build and an engineering build.
SimSea can emit simulated sensor and I/O data into the same interfaces real field hardware writes to, so a training scenario or a test campaign drives automation and operator screens as if they were wired to the vessel.

HIL Integration

SimSea is built to close the loop with real hardware. The HIL layer provides standard driver templates and I/O mapping for PLCs, DP systems, crane control panels, joystick platforms, motion bases, measurement devices, and custom operator stations. The same simulator that trains operators can verify a PLC update.

Standard I/O driver templates for rapid hardware connection
Connects to PLCs from the major vendors via OPC UA and Modbus
DP system emulation for vessel positioning validation
Motion base integration for high-fidelity cabin simulators
Virtual metrology streams (GNSS, IMU, load sensors) for MetroSea integration
Deterministic replay for regression testing and audit

Service Models

Complete Simulator Delivery

Complete simulator system (software, hardware, operator and instructor stations, scenario library, documentation, instructor training) delivered to your training facility or integrated into an existing simulation centre.

Simulator-as-a-Service

Hosted access to SimSea configurations on MimeSeas-run infrastructure or cloud-delivered, with instructor support and custom scenario authoring. Suitable for clients needing periodic training or engineering validation without capital investment.

Engineering and HIL Assignments

Project-based use of SimSea for control system validation, automation logic testing, procedure rehearsal for specific campaigns, operational planning studies, or integration with real controls and training hardware.