Smarter Ships, Cleaner Seas
Optical sensing solutions for marine propulsion, drivelines, winches, hulls, offshore lifting, and dredging. Explore what we measure, how it works, and why it matters for your vessel or equipment.
Optical sensing solutions for marine propulsion, drivelines, winches, hulls, offshore lifting, and dredging. Explore what we measure, how it works, and why it matters for your vessel or equipment.
Lumina uses the sensor sleeve across the propulsion train:
Smart Sleeve on bearings: Installed on propeller shaft bearings, pinion shaft bearings, and gearbox bearings (SRB, TRB, CARB, SRTB types). The sleeve measures radial and axial bearing loads at each position. From the axial load on the thrust bearing, actual propeller thrust is derived directly. From the radial loads and their distribution across gearbox bearings, shaft torque is calculated.
Coverage: All common marine driveline configurations are supported: conventional shaft lines (motor, gearbox, shaft, propeller), azimuthing thrusters, tunnel thrusters, and pod drives.
Fuel is typically 40 to 60% of a vessel's operating cost. Even small efficiency improvements have significant impact. Real time torque and thrust data enables three fuel saving mechanisms:
1. Propulsion efficiency monitoring: The ratio of thrust (useful output) to torque (power input) is the propulsive efficiency. Monitoring this in real time reveals when efficiency drops due to hull fouling, propeller damage, trim imbalance, or suboptimal operating speed. A 5% efficiency drop on a vessel consuming 20 tonnes of fuel per day means 1 tonne wasted daily.
2. Optimal speed and RPM selection: The relationship between shaft torque, RPM, and vessel speed changes with loading condition, sea state, and current. Real time data allows operators (or automated systems) to find the sweet spot where fuel consumption per nautical mile is minimized.
3. Hull and propeller condition trending: Progressive changes in the torque, speed, thrust relationship indicate hull fouling or propeller degradation. This data triggers timely hull cleaning or propeller polishing, each of which can recover 5 to 15% fuel efficiency.
Combined, these effects typically deliver 5 to 15% fuel savings on vessels that previously operated without propulsion monitoring, translating to USD 222K per year per vessel in documented cases.
IMO regulations (CII, EEXI, EU MRV, FuelEU Maritime) increasingly require vessels to report and reduce their carbon intensity. Accurate propulsion data is fundamental to this:
Accurate power measurement: Torque multiplied by RPM equals shaft power. This is the most accurate way to determine actual power delivered to the propeller, far more reliable than estimating from engine fuel flow or SFOC curves. Class societies and regulators increasingly accept shaft power measurement as the reference for emission calculations.
Hull and propeller performance tracking: CII (Carbon Intensity Indicator) ratings depend on how efficiently the vessel converts fuel into transport work. By continuously monitoring propulsive efficiency, Lumina provides the data needed to demonstrate that hull and propeller are maintained at optimal condition, directly supporting a better CII rating.
Fiber optic advantage: Unlike torque meters based on strain gauges (which drift and require periodic recalibration), FBG based torque measurement is drift free and long term stable. This means the measurement system maintains its accuracy over the vessel's lifetime without recalibration campaigns.
Regulatory context: CII applies to ships above 5,000GT, with mandatory annual reporting of operational CO2 emissions and A to E ratings. Ships rated D or E must implement corrective plans. The required reduction in carbon intensity is 40% by 2030 (baseline 2008), creating a massive driver for accurate propulsion monitoring across an estimated 20,000+ vessels globally.
This is where Lumina's high frequency sampling capability becomes critical. Thrusters operating in ice or heavy seas experience shock loads that can be 5 to 10 times the nominal design load, lasting only milliseconds.
What Lumina captures: The Smart Sleeve samples at up to 20kHz, fast enough to capture individual ice impact events on the propeller. This data shows the actual shock load magnitude, direction, and duration on each bearing position (pinion shaft, propeller shaft, SRB, TRB).
Proven track record: Lumina has run R&D projects on icebreaker thrusters, measuring shock loads on propeller shaft and pinion shaft bearings. In one case, this revealed a dis-balance in the propeller shaft bearing (uneven load distribution across bearing rows), which reduced calculated bearing life by a factor of 10 to 100 at full thrust. A design error that would have surfaced as premature failure in the field.
Value for thruster OEMs: Validate bearing life calculations under real ice conditions. Optimize pre-load settings for different operating profiles. Provide operators with load based guidance on safe operating envelopes in ice, maximizing service life while maintaining safety.
Traditional condition monitoring relies on vibration accelerometers mounted on gearbox or bearing housings. These detect symptoms (vibration patterns) only after damage has started developing. Lumina measures the actual mechanical loads on the bearings, which is the cause of degradation, not just the symptom.
The difference in practice: Vibration based systems typically detect bearing defects weeks before failure. Load based monitoring detects the conditions that lead to failure months earlier, because it sees overloading, misalignment, and uneven load distribution before any physical damage occurs.
Key statistics: 80% of rotating machine failures end up at the bearing. With Lumina's Smart Sleeve, 99% of bearing faults can be detected more than 3 months before failure. Less than 10% of bearings outlive their designed lifetime, primarily because actual operational loads differ from design assumptions.
What makes this possible: The Smart Sleeve captures radial load, axial load, load direction, temperature, speed, and vibration spectra simultaneously, from a single sensor integrated into the bearing housing. This multi-parameter approach catches failures that standard vibration sensors miss entirely, such as slow developing misalignment or gradual preload loss.
The complete driveline from engine output to propeller can be instrumented with Smart Sleeves at each bearing position and Smart Strips on structural elements. The system continuously measures:
Per bearing position: Radial and axial loads (Faxial, Fradial), loaded zone angle (0 to 360 degrees, accuracy ±5%), bearing temperature, rotational speed and direction, vibration spectra up to 20kHz for bearing race frequency analysis (BPFO, BPFI detection).
Derived parameters: Shaft torque and power transmission efficiency, bearing remaining useful life based on actual cumulative loads (not design assumptions), misalignment detection from load distribution asymmetry, load sharing between parallel shafts or bearings.
System level insights: Complete operational load spectrum over weeks, months, and years, enabling L10 bearing life recalculation based on reality. Comparison of actual loads versus original design envelope reveals whether the vessel operates within or beyond its design limits.
Data delivery: Edge processing via RevPi compute module outputs engineering units (Newton, degrees, RPM, temperature) via Modbus TCP/IP or Ethernet to the vessel's automation system. Cloud layer for trending, fleet analytics, and remote expert access via satellite or 4G connectivity.
The economics are driven by failure prevention. A single unplanned driveline failure on a commercial vessel can cost:
Direct costs: Emergency repairs run 50% more than planned maintenance. Severe gearbox or bearing failures require tens to hundreds of thousands in parts, labor, and mobilization. A documented case showed a repair bill exceeding USD 25 million with months of operational downtime.
Downtime costs: Lost charter revenue, port penalties, missed cargo deadlines. Daily costs range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on vessel type and contract.
Lumina system payback: A permanent driveline monitoring package (sleeves on key bearing positions, interrogator, compute module) pays back by converting one unplanned stop into a planned maintenance window. The 3+ month early warning lead time means parts can be ordered, maintenance can be scheduled during a planned port call, and no revenue is lost to emergency stops.
Additional value: Real operational load data reduces over-engineering in new designs (lower CAPEX for OEMs), extends proven operational life of existing equipment, and supports insurance negotiations with documented condition evidence.
This is where Lumina's technology originated: validating bearing life calculations with real world load data, initially developed at SKF.
The problem: Bearing life calculations (L10 life) rely on assumed load spectra. In marine applications, actual loads often differ dramatically from design assumptions due to environmental conditions (ice, waves, current), operational profiles, and installation effects (misalignment, thermal expansion).
Real example: On a marine thruster project, the Smart Sleeve revealed a dis-balance in the propeller shaft bearing, an uneven load distribution across the two row bearing. This reduced the bearing's calculated life by a factor of 10 to 100 at full thrust. The root cause was identified as a design error requiring a different bearing type. Without the optical measurement, this would have surfaced as a premature failure in the field.
Value for OEMs: Validate your bearing selections, optimize pre-load settings, verify that manufacturing tolerances produce the expected load distribution in practice. This prevents costly warranty claims, improves product reputation, and enables optimized designs that are neither over-engineered (too expensive) nor under-designed (warranty risk).
The Smart Sleeve is installed in the winch drum bearings (typically 260 to 420mm outer diameter). The tow line force is transmitted through the drum to its bearings, creating a measurable load pattern in the sleeve's FBG sensors.
The challenge with conventional load pins: Current tow line force measurement uses load pins, which only achieve 20 to 40% accuracy. Why? Because the actual force depends on the cable stacking height (which layer the cable is on), the drum's moment arm changes as cable pays out or reels in. Load pins measure at a fixed point and can't compensate for this.
The Lumina advantage: The Smart Sleeve measures the actual bearing load, which directly reflects the true line force regardless of cable layer position. Combined with speed sensing (RPM from the same sleeve), the system knows the drum position and can determine the effective moment arm. Result: line force accuracy of 5 to 10%, a massive improvement over the 20 to 40% from load pins.
Measured parameters: Bearing loads (axial and radial), rotation speed and direction, vibration patterns, row height of cable on drum, exact line position on drum, and row independent line force.
The tow line angle (the direction the line pulls relative to the vessel) is critical for operational efficiency and safety, particularly capsize prevention on tugboats.
How it works: FBG strain sensors are integrated into the beeting (the tow line guide structure on the vessel). As the tow line changes angle, the strain pattern on the beeting changes correspondingly. Multiple FBGs at different positions on the beeting structure allow reconstruction of both the horizontal and vertical tow line angle.
Why it matters:
Validation: Lumina has validated tow line angle measurement in test setups with load cell reference measurements across multiple cable layers and load conditions.
The Smart Winch is a standard towing winch enhanced with Lumina's optical sensing, creating a winch that knows its own loads, condition, and operating state. The concept: Winch + Smart Sleeve = Smart Winch, "Sensing360 inside".
What it delivers:
Market context: DAMEN produces approximately 60 winches per year. The Smart Winch concept was the first marine product developed through the DAMEN, Sensing360 partnership. Target cost per smart winch system: approximately EUR 2,500 to EUR 3,000 at series production volumes.
Lumina uses Smart Strips distributed across the hull structure (approximately 30 sensors on a single fiber run) to continuously measure how a vessel's hull responds to operational loads, waves, and environmental conditions.
What is measured: Absolute strains at multiple hull locations, natural eigenfrequencies (mode shapes), temperature distribution, deformation patterns, and dynamic response to waves and operational loads.
How it works: FBG strain sensors bonded along critical structural members capture micro-strain caused by hull bending, twisting, and vibration. The distributed nature of fiber optics means a single fiber run covers the entire hull length, from bow to stern, with individual measurement points every few meters. This spatial resolution is impossible with conventional strain gauges without massive wiring effort.
Proven results: Lumina has demonstrated hull monitoring where measured mode shapes (structural vibration patterns at 23Hz, 270Hz, 282Hz+ modes) match Finite Element Model (FEM) predictions in x, y, and z directions, validating both sensor accuracy and the vessel's structural design. This kind of correlation is extremely valuable for class societies and vessel designers.
Yes, and this is a major value driver. Today, vessel structural life is assessed through periodic class surveys (visual and ultrasonic thickness measurements every 2.5 to 5 years), design based fatigue life calculations using assumed load spectra, and conservative safety factors to account for unknowns.
With continuous fiber optic monitoring: You replace assumptions with measured reality. The actual fatigue load history is recorded, enabling remaining useful life calculations based on what the vessel actually experienced, not what the designer assumed.
This works both ways: vessels operating in benign conditions may safely extend their operational life, while vessels operating harder than expected can be flagged for inspection before cracks develop. Either way, the owner makes decisions based on data rather than conservative rules.
For fleet operators: With vessels worth EUR 50M to EUR 200M each, extending operational life by even a few years represents enormous value. Conversely, catching structural fatigue before it becomes a crack prevents catastrophic failures and protects crew safety.
Defence applications have unique requirements where fiber optics offer distinct advantages over any electrical sensor technology:
EMI immunity: Naval vessels are packed with radar, communication, and electronic warfare systems generating intense electromagnetic fields. Fiber optic sensors produce clean measurements regardless of the electromagnetic environment.
No electromagnetic signature: Unlike electrical sensors with wiring that can act as antennas, fiber optic systems produce zero electromagnetic emission. This matters for vessels with low observability (stealth) requirements.
Shock and blast monitoring: High frequency sampling (up to 24kHz) captures shock events from underwater explosions, weapons firing, and heavy sea states. This data is critical for assessing structural damage after combat or shock events and determining whether the vessel can safely continue operations.
Reduced weight and complexity: A single fiber carries 15+ sensors across the entire hull, dramatically reducing cabling complexity and weight compared to equivalent electrical sensor networks, a significant advantage on weight sensitive naval platforms.
Intrinsically safe: No electrical energy at the sensor point, relevant for ammunition storage areas and fuel systems.
Lumina's Smart Sleeve monitors the deep groove ball bearings (DGBB) on both the drive end (DE) and non-drive end (NDE) of electric motors used in heavy offshore crane winch systems.
Measurement parameters: Axial and radial bearing loads, load direction (0 to 360 degrees), bearing temperature, rotational speed (200 to 3,600 RPM), and vibration spectra up to 20kHz. Load accuracy is 1% full spectrum with 1% repeatability.
Why e-motors specifically: Offshore crane motors operate intermittently under extreme peak loads during heavy lifts, then idle between operations. This loading pattern creates unique bearing stress profiles that are poorly predicted by design assumptions based on average duty cycles. The actual peak loads during emergency stops, wave-induced dynamic loading, or maximum lifts can exceed design assumptions significantly.
Active project: Lumina is currently running a 12 month field validation on Huisman offshore cranes, monitoring 1 to 5 motors per crane during normal operation. The project covers root cause analysis of bearing failures, design verification based on actual field loads, and development of operational guidelines to prevent bearing overload during heavy lifting.
Target segment: Lumina supports any motor size and focuses primarily on construction vessels, where heavy lift cycles and dynamic offshore loading create the highest demand for bearing load intelligence.
Offshore heavy lift operations combine high stakes with extreme cost sensitivity. A crane failure during an offshore campaign can cascade into project delays costing millions.
Failure prevention: Detect unexpected bearing degradation, misalignment, or unbalance before they cause motor failure during a critical lift. The 3+ month early warning from load based monitoring gives enough lead time to schedule motor replacement during a planned port call rather than emergency mobilization offshore.
Operational intelligence: Understand exactly how bearings are loaded during actual crane operations. Identify unsafe operating conditions (excessive peak loads, resonance at certain hoisting speeds) and optimize load handling procedures to minimize bearing stress.
Design feedback: Motor and crane OEMs gain validated load spectra from real offshore operations, enabling optimized bearing selection and more accurate warranty calculations.
Protection rating: The sensing system is rated up to IP68 with ATEX Zone 0 certification, operating from -50 to 150 degrees Celsius, suitable for the harshest offshore environments including saltwater spray, vibration, and temperature extremes.
Yes. Beyond the motor bearings themselves, Lumina's technology extends to the large, slow rotating bearings found in cranes and offshore systems:
Slewing bearings: Smart Strips on slewing ring bearings for harbour cranes, ship cranes, and offshore heavy lift cranes. Monitors load distribution, slewing bearing condition, and structural fatigue of the crane pedestal.
FPSO turret bearings: Highly loaded, slow rotating roller bearings in turret mooring systems. Condition monitoring of these bearings is critical as failure leads to disconnection and production shutdown. The value of preventing a single turret bearing failure on an FPSO can run into hundreds of millions in lost production.
Jacking systems: Load monitoring in rack and pinion systems for jack up vessels. Static and dynamic load measurement with sensor integration density of approximately 2.5mm spacing.
Status: FPSO turret bearing monitoring is currently at the feasibility stage. Lumina is exploring how its Smart Strip technology can be adapted to the specific geometry and loading conditions of turret roller bearings.
Cutter head planetary gearboxes on dredgers are among the most demanding gearbox applications in marine engineering. They operate 24/7 in abrasive slurry environments, transmitting high torque at variable loads as the cutter encounters different soil types (clay, sand, rock).
The challenge: Planetary gearboxes distribute load across multiple planet gears, but in practice, manufacturing tolerances and installation conditions mean the load is rarely shared equally. One planet gear may carry significantly more load than its neighbors, leading to premature bearing and tooth failure on that stage. This uneven load sharing is invisible to conventional monitoring (motor current, pressure readings).
Consequences of failure: A planetary gearbox failure on a cutter suction dredger stops dredging operations entirely. Replacement costs run into hundreds of thousands of euros, and mobilizing a gearbox to a (often remote) dredging site adds weeks of downtime. On large projects with penalty clauses, each day of downtime can cost EUR 50K or more.
Current practice: Operators rely on oil analysis, temperature monitoring, and periodic vibration measurements. These methods detect damage only after it has already started, leaving no time for planned intervention.
Lumina instruments the planetary gearbox at the bearing positions using Smart Sleeves, and on the structural housing using Smart Strips. This dual approach captures both the internal load distribution and the overall gearbox behaviour.
What is measured: Exact radial and axial loads on each planet gear bearing, load sharing between planetary stages, bearing race frequencies (BPFO analysis) for early defect detection, tooth mesh frequency patterns for gear wear trending, vibration and shock loads from cutting operations, and temperature at each bearing position.
Installation approach: Smart Sleeves integrate into the gear bearing housings via the axle stub mounting. Fiber tensioning and alignment is done during installation with typical pre-tension of 50 to 100 microstrain. The fiber optic cable routes through the gearbox housing to the interrogator, which can be mounted in any protected enclosure nearby.
Key output for operations: Real time "cutter gearbox health index" combining individual planet gear loads, bearing condition indicators, and vibration signatures. This tells operators whether the gearbox is healthy, developing a problem, or approaching maintenance threshold, with enough lead time to plan intervention.
Beyond failure prevention, real time gearbox load data enables significant operational improvements:
Swing speed optimization: Load data from the cutter gearbox shows exactly how much resistance the soil is providing. Operators (or automated systems) can adjust swing speed to keep the cutter at peak cutting efficiency without overloading the gearbox.
Soil classification: The load signature changes with soil type. Hard rock produces sharp, high amplitude load spikes. Clay produces smooth, sustained loads. Sand sits somewhere in between. This real time soil feedback helps plan the dredging sequence for maximum production.
Design optimization: OEMs gain validated load spectra from actual dredging operations, enabling optimized gear ratios, improved load sharing between planetary stages, and more accurate gearbox life predictions for future designs.
Production impact: On a large CSD project, even a 5% production improvement from better cutter management translates to significant cost savings over a multi-year contract. The combination of avoiding one unplanned gearbox replacement plus production optimization typically delivers ROI within the first year.
Status: Cutter head planetary gearbox monitoring is currently at the pilot stage, with initial instrumentation and data collection underway to validate the sensing approach under real dredging conditions.
A Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) is a microscopic pattern etched into an optical fiber (just 125 micrometers in diameter). This pattern reflects a very specific wavelength of light. When the fiber is stretched, compressed, or heated, the grating spacing changes, shifting the reflected wavelength.
An interrogator sends broadband light down the fiber and reads the reflected wavelengths. Each FBG reflects at a unique wavelength, so up to 15 sensors can sit on a single fiber, each independently measuring strain and temperature at their location.
What makes it special for marine:
Lumina offers three core sensor products, each designed for a specific category of marine measurement:
Smart Sleeve: Fits into bearing positions (CRB, ACBB, SRB, TRB, DGBB types). Measures radial and axial bearing loads, temperature, speed, and vibration spectra. Used for propulsion bearings, gearbox bearings, winch drum bearings, and e-motor bearings. This is the workhorse product for rotating equipment monitoring.
Smart Strip: FBG strain sensors in a flexible strip format, bonded to structural surfaces. Used for hull integrity monitoring, cutter body instrumentation, dry dock bending measurement, and structural fatigue tracking. Covers large areas with a single fiber run (30+ sensors per fiber).
Smart Washer: Sits under bolt heads to measure bolt force and reconstruct pressure curves. Primary application is marine engine cylinder pressure monitoring. Bolt range M12 to M54, washer thickness from 2.5mm, ATEX Zone 0 certified.
Common specifications across all products: Sampling rate 10 to 2,500Hz (burst up to 20kHz), load accuracy 1% full spectrum, temperature range minus 50 to 150 degrees Celsius, protection up to IP68, output via Modbus TCP/IP or Ethernet.
This is the most common misconception. Per sensor, FBG technology is significantly cheaper than conventional alternatives:
Cost per sensing point: Approximately EUR 40 for the first FBG point (includes fiber and basic packaging). Each additional FBG on the same fiber adds only approximately EUR 0.50. Compare this to approximately EUR 250 per strain gauge installation or EUR 500 to EUR 2,000 per industrial accelerometer.
The interrogator: This is the "reader" unit and represents the main hardware cost. Prices have dropped dramatically as fiber optic technology has matured across industries. A single interrogator serves all sensors on the fiber.
Total cost of ownership: No recalibration, no drift, no replacement cycle. A well installed FBG system is designed to last the life of the equipment. When you factor in a 10 to 20 year operational life, fiber optics are typically 10 to 50 times cheaper per measurement point than competing technologies.
Example pricing: For offshore e-motor applications, a complete system (design, sensor integration, installation, and commissioning) ranges from approximately EUR 11K for a single motor to EUR 36K for five motors, with monthly DAQ rental from EUR 1,250.
Lumina's business model is designed for OEM integration. The typical engagement follows three phases:
Phase 1, Design validation (3 to 6 months): Instrument a prototype or existing machine with Lumina sensors to measure actual loads and validate design calculations. This often reveals surprises (e.g., the thruster bearing dis-balance case). Deliverable: engineering report with measured load spectra and recommendations.
Phase 2, Pilot fleet deployment (6 to 12 months): Install permanent monitoring on 3 to 5 machines in the field. Develop application specific algorithms and alert thresholds. Validate predictive maintenance capabilities against operational experience.
Phase 3, Series production integration: The sensor becomes a standard component in the OEM's product. "Lumina Inside" or white labelled. The OEM sells smart equipment at a premium, Lumina provides the sensing hardware and optional cloud analytics.
Track record: Lumina Marine was established as a joint venture between Sensing360 and DAMEN Shipyards Group. Customers and partners include ZF, Schottel, Reintjes, Renk, Huisman, and DSMS. The technology platform originates from SKF bearing research, with 14+ patent families covering sensor integration, load sensing algorithms, and mechanical element instrumentation.
Lumina Marine Innovations is a joint venture established in 2023 between Sensing360 and DAMEN Shipyards Group, focused on bringing fiber optic sensing technology to the marine industry.
Sensing360 (founded 2018) is the technology company behind the optical sensing platform. The IP originated from SKF's bearing research, and the team holds 14+ patent families covering sensor integration, load sensing algorithms, and mechanical element instrumentation.
DAMEN is one of the world's largest shipbuilding groups, operating 35+ shipyards globally, with deep domain expertise in dredging (through IHC heritage), naval, offshore, and commercial marine.
Mission: "Make stupid steel smart." Improve reliability, availability, and efficiency of rotating equipment and vessel structures through direct optical measurement of what matters: actual loads, not symptoms.
Track record: 1,065+ sensors installed across 31 projects in 10 countries. Proven technology on marine propulsion systems, icebreaker thrusters, tug winches, marine diesel engines, offshore cranes, and vessel hull structures.
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