The Royal Australian Navy will monitor the performance of its gas turbine engines on two vessels through a partnership with the CSIRO and manufacturer GE to help reduce fuel burn and improve operational performance.

The advanced analytics of data collected from sensors is through an application developed by the CSIRO’s digital research network Data61 and GE, it was announced on Tuesday.

Techniques such as machine learning and advanced algorithms would predict future failures and reduce fuel burn, while data visualisation tools would be used to represent the engine performance.

In addition to improving the performance of the current fleet, it was hoped the data analytics work would also optimise the design, production and support of future vessels.

GE Marine vice president Brien Bolsinger said it was the first Australian application of data collection from GE’s LM2500 engines for naval purposes.

“In the long-term there is enormous potential for further advanced data analytics tools to be developed here in Australia that can be applied to other GE-designed military and commercial marine engines,” Bolsinger said.

“This undertaking also contributes to the Australian government’s defence industry innovation objective aimed at enhancing the digital capability of Australia’s innovative defence industry and workforce.”

GE Marine’s engines power the RAN’s Anzac, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart class vessels, in addition to the ships of 34 other navies around the world. Collectively, the 1,450 GE gas turbine engines on board 600 naval ships have accumulated about 15 million hours in service.

The data collection from two RAN vessels was due to start at the end of 2017.

CSIRO’s Data61 chief executive Adrian Turner said the project with GE and the RAN showed what was possible through the use of trusted data analytics.

“This partnership is a great example of how insights from data can be used to transform existing industries like defence, where cost savings from operational efficiencies can provide significant economic gains as well as serving the national benefit,” Turner said.