The AX Convergence research center at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), led by Seok Hyun Ryu, has developed an integrated design framework called 'isSAFE'. This framework is designed for a comprehensive analysis of 'ship safety', which includes the ship's ability to avoid enemy attacks, withstand damage, recover key functions after damage, and continue its mission.
Features of the isSAFE Framework
One of the key achievements of this project is the integration of safety analyses that were previously conducted using separate software tools. The isSAFE framework provides an integrated design environment where the ship model is built, various attack scenarios are generated, and vulnerability analyses, recovery capabilities, and outcomes are continuously performed.
Ship safety is divided into three main elements: vulnerability, the ability to avoid detection and enemy attack; survivability, the ability to withstand damage during an attack; and recovery capability, the ability to restore key functions after damage. Previously, each of these elements was analyzed using separate tools and procedures, significantly relying on external software.
Current and Future Developments
The isSAFE framework can generate diverse attack scenarios using uniform and comprehensive distributions, probability-based distributions, and radar cross-section (RCS) and infrared (IR) signatures. Additionally, this framework supports simple and detailed vulnerability analyses for surface ships and simple analyses for underwater threats, allowing users to assess the severity of ship damage under various attack conditions.
Dr. Eui Yong Kim, the principal researcher at the AX Convergence center, stated that a key feature of isSAFE is that it examines the three elements of ship safety—vulnerability, survivability, and recovery capability—within an integrated design framework. He also added that the center seeks feedback from industry, academia, research institutions, and military to further develop isSAFE as a practical framework in ship design.
The AX Convergence center is continuously improving the damage control-based recovery analysis module and is developing integrated database management functions for reference information on threats, equipment, systems, and materials to expand the scope of this framework. In subsequent development stages, the center intends to enhance interoperability and scalability with external analysis tools and develop software tailored for applications such as conceptual design and training.
The AX Convergence center held the first public demonstration of isSAFE on October 8, 2026, at 11 AM in the main conference hall of the R1 building at KIMM headquarters in Daejeon. This demonstration included real-time modeling and generation of attack scenarios and damage analysis at locations designated by participants.
