The autonomous navigation system of a sea-going vessel
Z. Pietrzykowski, Piotr Wołejsza, Ł. Nozdrzykowski, Piotr Borkowski, Paweł Banaś, J. Magaj, J. Chomski, M. Mąka, Sylwia Mielniczuk, Anna Pańka, P. Hatłas, Eric Kulbiej, Magdalena Nozdrzykowska
Abstract
We propose an integrated comprehensive system of an Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV), dedicated to ships with various degrees of autonomy. The system performs a variety of tasks aimed at safe voyage execution. The use of basic and additional information sources is envisaged, including data from unmanned remotely controlled and autonomous aerial vehicles, to increase situational awareness. After defining the assumptions and devising the architecture of the system, we built its model. The key elements of the model, collision avoidance and automatic communication modules, are capable of developing and agreeing on manoeuvres between autonomous vessels in the negotiation process. The model was implemented as a real time system and verified in three stages: laboratory tests, quasi-real tests using physical models of ships and in real operational conditions on board ships at sea. The research results have confirmed the correctness of the assumptions, designed system architecture and developed algorithms.