MACSEA Team Selected for National Shipbuilding Research Program R&D Funding
The National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) has announced three project selections valued at over $6.2M in government and industry cost share funding. One of these is a project to further develop the I.M.SAFE AI-based fire prevention system that has been under development by MACSEA and PacMar Technologies under a Joint Development Agreement. Other team members for the project include Pacific Shipyards International (PacMar’s parent company), Fincantieri Marine Repair, Fresh Consulting, and Hepinstall Consulting Group.
The project aims to customize I.M.SAFE into an AI/ML-enabled fire-watch system to enhance safety during hot work operations in shipyards. These operations, such as welding, grinding, or cutting, pose high fire risks. The system is intended to supplement and ultimately replace human fire-watch personnel with automated devices capable of detecting and extinguishing fires in real time, thereby reducing human exposure to hazardous environments
MACSEA’s role will be the primary AI and machine-learning developer within the I.M.SAFE consortium. Drawing on its expertise in maritime sensing, data fusion, and autonomous system analytics, MACSEA will be responsible for:
- Designing and training the core detection algorithms that enable real-time recognition of ignition sources, smoke, heat anomalies, and hazardous conditions from onboard sensors and thermal cameras.
- Integrating multimodal data streams (visual, infrared, and acoustic) into an intelligent decision-making layer that triggers alerts or automated suppression.
- Developing adaptive learning frameworks that continuously refine detection accuracy as the system is exposed to diverse shipyard environments and materials.
- Supporting PacMar and Fresh Consulting in embedding the AI/ML modules into ruggedized hardware and user-friendly operational interfaces suitable for shipyard use.
Through these contributions, MACSEA is positioned as the technical engine driving the autonomous reasoning and situational-awareness capabilities of the I.M.SAFE system, key to transforming manual fire watch duties into smart, automated safety operations for naval and commercial shipbuilding applications.
