Accuracy in fixing ship's positions by camera survey of bearings

Abstract

The paper presents the results of research on the possibilities of fixing ship position coordinates based on results of surveying bearings on navigational marks with the use of the CCD camera. Accuracy of the determination of ship position coordinates, expressed in terms of the mean error, was assumed to be the basic criterion of this estimation. The first part of the paper describes the method of the determination of the resolution and the mean error of the angle measurement, taken with a camera, and also the method of the determination of the mean error of position coordinates when two or more bearings were measured. There have been defined three software applications assigned for the development of navigational sea charts with accuracy areas mapped on. The second part contains the results of studying accuracy in fixing ship position coordinates, carried out in the Gulf of Gdansk, with the use of bearings taken obtained with the Rolleiflex and Sony cameras. The results are presented in a form of diagrams of the mean error of angle measurement, also in the form of navigational charts with accuracy fields mapped on. In the final part, basing on results obtained, the applicability of CCD cameras in automation of coastal navigation performance process is discussed.