This project is in collaboration with Linnaeus University and Combitech AB, and part of the research arena WARA-PS, focuses on enhancing autonomous vehicles and their societal integration. By incorporating advanced autonomous systems, sensors, and communication tools across land, air, and sea, the aim is to reduce human intervention in hazardous environments. Current watercrafts are technically equipped but suffer from low availability and high manufacturing costs. The project proposes a modular and adaptable design, allowing 3D-printing of watercraft parts to customize for specific needs. The goal is to develop a 3D-printed watercraft applicable in research, rescue missions, and societal uses. The resulting nearly full-scale watercraft features a functioning drivetrain and detailed manufacturing documentation, highlighting waterproofing and customizable technical components. Extensive testing ensured its functionality and performance under various conditions.

The dissertation thesis deals with valuation of individual items in the economic balance sheet of a stand-alone company and subsequently as a part of acquisition. We define the economic balance sheet as a full set of assets, liabilities as well as synergies amongst the assets (stand-alone company view) and companies (transaction view), where the sum of their individual valuations has to equal to the overall value of the company. Hence we suggest that the management (and a valuer) should be able to decompose the company value into defined and controllable value components. Apart from identifying optimal methods for the individual valuation, the key for achieving this task is the internal (amongst the assets) as well as the overall consistency (vis-a-vis the overall company value). Compared to the overall-valuation approach, we demonstrate how the component approach can lead to more precise results, higher management discipline and accountability, and can serve as a tool for an a priori identification of overpayment as well as an instrument for controlling the value post transaction. We defined two primary types of synergies in terms of valuation approach - Enhancement, improving current income potential and Future opportunities, mainly focusing on new projects - and proposed appropriate valuation approaches given their specifics. Since a large proportion of valuations on individual level is based on the income approach, setting a clear and consistent approach to discount rates was a vital part of the work. We propose a primary and, if not available, second-best rate for each component of the economic balance sheet. Although the synergies are probably of the highest commercial interest, the liabilities with external source of risk and deferred taxes on the individual level are areas generally neglected both by academics and practitioners. While the first one will have only but crucial impact on companies with decommissioning and similar liabilities, the latter is present almost in any itemized valuation, and its incorrect or purely isolated application affects the overall result and breaks the link to the overall company value. We analyze both topics and offer consistent valuation methods, although further research is required to refine them. We discuss WARA as one of the key tools for ensuring consistency of itemized valuation of the economic balance sheet. Lacking any theoretical background and interest from academic researchers, we first analyze simple concepts of the tool as they are used in practice and point out observed conceptual errors, oversimplifications and accounting-only approach. Not only that we propose complex consistent rules for WARA construction but we extend the concept from the focus on conventionally defined net assets to the full economic balance sheet, which is the only way how to relate the itemized valuation to the overall company valuation. Finally, we presented a case study based on real-life example which demonstrated practical applicability of proposed partial solutions as well as the overall approach to achieving consistency with the total company or transaction valuation. Although the analysis of individual items of the economic balance will be inevitably based on subjective assumptions to an extent, we have shown that proposed complex and consistent approach adds value to the strategic and transaction considerations. Also the preciseness of the tools will increase with the number of transactions performed as the parameters get calibrated.

Sjöräddning i Sverige sker genom samverkan mellan statliga verksamheter, kommuner och frivilligorganisationer för ett gemensamt mål att rädda personer som råkat i sjönöd. Tid är ofta en kritisk faktor i räddningsuppdragen men ett snabbt och oplanerat utryck riskerar samtidigt att sätta räddningsaktörerna själva i farozonen. Utvecklingen av obemannade autonoma farkoster för SAR (eng. Search And Rescue) ses som en lösning på behovet att kunna snabbt skicka hjälp till samt få ögon på incidentplatsen utan att försätta räddningsaktörerna för onödig risk. Nuvarande kommunikationssystem inom svensk sjöräddning kan dock inte hantera annan typ av information än muntlig varav räddningsaktörer endast känner till riktlinjer för hantering av muntlig information. Med ett framtida införande av autonoma farkoster kommer dock fler informationstyper att behöva hanteras i sjöräddningar varav oklarheten om vilka informationstyper autonoma farkoster samlar in och vilka datahanteringskrav som finns är problematiskt. Oklarhet om informationstyperna och deras datahanteringskrav är vidare problematiskt för utvecklingen och implementeringen av autonoma farkoster då risken finns att farkoster och tekniker utvecklas men inte får användas för att de inte är anpassade efter lagkraven på hantering av olika datatyper. I denna studie undersöks därför vilka informationstyper som autonoma farkoster kan samla in vid sjöräddning. Detta för att komma fram till vilka riktlinjer för datahantering som gäller vid sjöräddning med autonoma farkoster. Studien undersöker också vilka informationstyper som är kritiska för en SAR-sjöräddningssamverkan samt vilka informationsdelningsutmaningar som finns i dagens sjöräddning. Studien genomfördes i form av en kvalitativ fallstudie och har tillämpat ett socio-tekniskt systemperspektiv för att bättre se till helheten och besvara frågeställningarna. Resultatet av denna studie visar att autonoma farkoster kan samla in information om sin omgivning, vilket utgör grunden för att skapa en medvetenhet om situationen som är kritiskt för SAR-operationer, och kan även samla in information om sitt eget tillstånd. De lagverk som identifierats utgöra de huvudsakliga restriktionerna är kamerabevakningslagen, lagen för skydd av geografisk information, offentlighets- och sekretesslagen, GDPR och dataskyddslagen. Dessa lagverk innehåller riktlinjer för delning av information och personuppgiftsbehandling i SAR-sjöräddning. Kunskapsbidrag studien har genererat inkluderar bland annat identifiering av datatyper som kan samlas in av autonoma farkoster i en SAR-sjöräddning, och sannolikt andra typer av räddningsinsatser, och delning och hanteringskraven på de datatyperna i räddningsinsatser och därmed kunskap om vilka datatyper som är mest reglerade. Vidare kunskapsbidrag är kunskap om vilka informationstyper som är mest kritiska för SAR-sjöräddningar, och därför bör prioriteras att samlas in och delas, och identifieringen av utmaningar för informationsdelning mellan statliga verksamheter och frivilligorganisationer. / Maritime rescue in Sweden is performed through a cooperation between government agencies, municipalities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with the common goal of saving people in distress. Time is often a critical factor in the rescue missions but a fast and unplanned response may at the same time put the rescue workers in danger. The development of unmanned autonomous vehicles for SAR is seen as a solution to the need of being able to quickly sendhelp as well as get eyes on the scene of the incident without exposing the rescue workers for unnecessary risks. However, the current communications systems in Swedish maritime rescue are unable to handle any other type of information except verbal, meaning that rescue workers only know guidelines for handling verbal information. However, with a future implementation of autonomous vehicles, there will be a need to handle more information types in maritime rescue whereas the uncertainty regarding what kind of information autonomous vehicles collect and which data management requirements exist is problematic. The uncertainty about the information types and their data management requirements is also problematic for the development and implementation of autonomous vehicles as there is a risk that vehicles and technologies are developed but not allowed to be used because they are not adapted to the legal requirements on management of the different types of data. Therefore, in this study I examine what information types that autonomous vehicles can collect in a maritime rescue to find out what guidelines for data management that applies during a maritime rescue with autonomous vehicles. The study also examines what kind of information’s are critical for a SAR maritime rescue cooperation as well as what information sharing challenges exist in current maritime rescue. The study was performed as a qualitative case study and has used a socio-technical systems perspective so as to better see the overall picture and answer the research questions. The result shows that autonomous vehicles can collect information about their surroundings, which is the foundation for establishing situation awareness that is critical for SAR-operations, and that they can collect information about their own status. The main laws and regulations that have been identified as constituting the main restrictions are (translated from Swedish) the law of camera surveillance, the law for protection of geographical information, the public access to information and secrecy act, the GDPR and the data protection act. These contains guidelines for sharing information and the processing of personal data in SAR maritime rescue. The knowledge contributions of this study includes among others the identification of datatypes that can be collected by autonomous vehicles in SAR maritime rescue, and probably other types of rescue operations, and the sharing and management requirements on those datatypes in rescue operations and thus knowledge of what datatypes that are the most restricted. Further knowledge contributions is knowledge about which information types that are the most critical for SAR maritime rescue and thus should be prioritised for collection and sharing as well as the identification of challenges for information sharing between government agencies and NGOs.