Autonomous Route Planning for Ships in Complex Waterways

Abstract

Route planning for ship navigation is a process to generate the optimal route with the careful consideration of ship maneuvering constraints and environmental conditions. This paper presents a study on a ship’s navigation through a canal estuary area with the strong currents. An autonomous route planning algorithm based on the modified RRT approach (rapidly-exploring random tree) is developed to handle this increased level of complexity. A series of navigation model tests were conducted to verify this route planning algorithm. The optimal route generated from the proposed algorithm could ensure safe navigation of the ship model through this canal estuary area without any collisions with the dikes or the tidal barrier. Autonomous route planning built upon scientific theories and operational experiences has the great advantage to generate optimal routes even in complex waterways, which is possible to minimize human errors in navigation decision.