Winner of this year's award: He made modern offshore activities possible

Nils Albert Jenssen has received the honorary award of the year at the 2018 Norwegian Tech Awards, held tonight by Teknisk Ukeblad.

The award was presented by Tekna Secretary General Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg.

TU has already written that modern offshore activities were unthinkable without the efforts of this man, and he is considered by many to be a legend of the Norwegian shipping industry.

"It's a great honor, it's a lot of fun," Jenssen told TU.

He received applause when he appeared on Wednesday, November 28th.

Jenssen was the key person when the Kongsberg group in the mid-1970s developed Dynamic Positioning (DP). Before retiring earlier this year, he received the Kongsberg Group Award.

"Kongsberg and NTNU both view your scientific contribution as fundamental and revolutionary for the maritime cybernetics sector," said Geir Håøy, CEO.

Allows you to stay in the exact position

DP is briefly an advanced advanced control technology, sensors, measurements, algorithms and models assembled in systems allowing ships, platforms and other floating equipment to remain in the same geographical position, using only the power and propellers without having to throw the anchor. .

DP is perhaps the largest Norwegian contribution to the global offshore industry. Without this technology, it would have been impossible to lay pipes, drill wells, carry out maintenance work or produce oil at depths greater than 200 meters.

Cruise ships have installed DPs to avoid anchoring coral reefs and other vulnerable areas. DP also helps maneuver large vessels to and from the wharf without the need for tugs.

This is a dynamic positioning: the system should allow complex operations under the ice and in extreme weather

"We had no idea

Nils Albert Jenssen was a student of NTH's well-deserved professor, Jens G. Balchen. He is considered a father of modern regulatory technology and current cybernetics at NTNU. For several years, Balchen was eager to develop DP systems, but he received a mixed reception from the Kongsberg Weapons Factory (KV). Jenssen has obtained a researcher position in Sintef.

Balchen did not come back and contacted KV again a few years later. The idea then matured in Kongsberg and the company started collaborating with Jenssen and a research team in Sintef.

The development of management algorithms for DP has become Jenssen's first task on behalf of KV. He worked diligently on this subject from 1976 to the commissioning of the first system on May 17 of the following year, and for several years to perfect the solutions. The Seaway Pelican, from Stolt Nielsen's dive platform, was the first DP-equipped vessel of Kongsberg and Nils Albert Jenssen.

"We knew that some market analysis had been done in the early 1970s, which included deliveries to a few PDD systems a year, and we did not know that it would be a tool that would would depend one hundred percent on the development of the offshore industry, "said Jenssen.

Stolt Nielsen's diving platform, Seaway Swan, became the second vessel equipped with the Kongsberg DP system. Today, technology is used around the world.

Albatross Dynpos, at the origin of the system, was rewarded with a silver platter when readers of Tekniske Weekblad voted for the technical achievements of this century at the turn of the millennium.

Important environment of Albatross

In 1981, Jenssen obtained his first PhD in Dynamic Positioning.

The following year, in 1982, he joined Kongsberg Maritime as a "Senior Software Engineer" responsible for integrating DP into new areas of applications, operations and operations. technology.

He describes the cooperation in the environment of albatrosses as extremely educational.

"My engine started with the desire to develop the technology itself, but in the end, the environment of Kongsberg Maritime – where technology, sales and project execution with customers were at the center of the situation – the engine the most important, he said.

Jenssen's efforts have been noticed at home and abroad. He has, among others, received a high award from the Maritime Technology Society in the United States and has been honored as a member of the Norwegian Association for Automation.

Today, it enjoys a slightly quieter retreat. And unlike many other people who have spent a lot of time in a company, he has managed to stay away from all sorts of consulting positions, despite several offers.

– I made a decision that is enough. I did not think the transition would go so well, but I managed to keep my mind away from work. If you fail, it will be impossible to stop. Now I'm doing things that I have not had time to do before, and I'm very excited, says Jenssen.