Development of an onboard
maritime digital scale

For digital scales, it is extremely important that the installation location is level and stable. It is a critical pre-condition that the environment be free from swaying and vibration. However, since 2017, the challenge to overcome these common sense barriers has been in full swing at Tanaka Scale Works. XXX Amano of our development department led the way. He had this to say about the project: "For example, in offshore fishing, when fishermen operate across international water boundaries, they must apply for a quota in advance and be careful not to exceed that approved quota. Also, in recent years, there has been an increasing trend toward the need for digital weighing on ships, snice digital scales are more reliable than the mechanical ones. However, there were not any digital scales that could work on the open sea, which posed a problem for fishing organizations. We had done some initial investigations in the past on an onboard maritime digital scale, but we realized that it would be very difficult to develop one. However, we sensed that, as the IoT age has now arrived, the need for digital measurements on ships will become more meaningful. So, we put all of our effort into developing one." Although there are expensive and special products overseas, there are no digital onboard scales that achieve the required accuracy at a price range that most fishing boats can afford. At first, there was no clear path forward for achieving one either. However, wherever there is a need to measure something, you will find Tanaka's spirit as a scale manufacturer is up to the challenge. With that, Tanaka took the first step, and the development team began the process of trial and error.

The challenge began in the dimly lit corner space of Tanaka's warehouse. In order to reproduce the swaying movement of the ocean, Amano and others built a spring-loaded platform and hung it with a crane at the space. They put a prototype on it, and began the process of correcting the program over and over to acquire steady data while the platform swayed. The first prototype used a sensor that detects the movement and then corrects the numerical value. In the factory testing environment, a target accuracy of ± 3% was finally achieved. Then, in April 2018, Amano decided to send the prototype to the ocean to acquire data with the cooperation of a research vessel of the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency. However, the results were pretty bad. He recalled, "The waves in the ocean were huge. When the ship crossed a wave of 4 or 5 meters, our prototype was unable to correct the measured value. The deviation was more than 5%." Then what? Do you continue to try to improve using the same approach or do you take a completely different approach? Well, as it turns out, it was then that Amano decided to take a different approach.

“We decided to make a program to calculate the measured value from scratch rather than using a sensor,” explained Amano. With that, the days of data collection and adjustment at the corner of the warehouse resumed. The development team had someone special to consult with whenever they hit a wall. “One of our secret weapons is that we have a veteran guy in his 60s here at Tanaka that has been making all kinds of scales for more than 40 years. Whenever you have a problem, you can go to him and get advice on both tangible and intangible issues. Sure enough, over the course of about a year of steady verification, we learned a ton,” said Amano. During testing with a prototype mounted on a small fishing boat, a vibration problem in the 50-60Hz range emitted by the ship's engine was found, requiring countermeasures. However, the team was able to resolve it using mechanical measures to prevent resonance. They also were able to verify the ability to correct large sways in the ocean. Success was finally in sight. In the winter of 2018, they applied for a patent. Finally, the path toward practical application was in view.

In August 2019, development team members were at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center for the Fish Next EXPO, a fishery technology exhibition. At their exhibit they showed their new scale prototype to the world for the first time. They demonstrated it on platform simulating ocean sway. Many visitors saw how the numerical values ​​stayed steady even during the swaying and stopped to hear why. XXX Nomata of the Sales Department was enthusiastic: "We realized that there was a need in areas we hadn't even envisioned, such as aquaculture and resource conservation. The response was overwhelming. We have already received inquiries from outside Japan." XXX Koyanagi, General Manager of the Niigata Branch of the Sales Department recalls, "We also met a company that could be a consortium partner. So, we will not only sell products but also develop and provide solutions that make full use of the IoT, such as developing systems that send measurement data in real time from the ship." The project has finally made the move to the mass production development and certification stages in preparation for a sales launch in 2020. In recognition of the potential of an onboard maritime digital scale in the IoT era, the company also received a development grant from Niigata Industrial Creation Organization (NICO). Such is the challenge of creating a world first. And the wind is good! This development started in a corner of a warehouse in Niigata, but it may well transform the global fishing industry.