Real-time tracking and dynamic berthing information extraction system with 2D LiDAR data

Abstract

In smart ports, accurately perceiving the state of a berthing vessel relative to the berth is essential for ensuring the safety and efficiency of vessels and ports. This paper presents a real-time tracking and dynamic berthing information extraction system based on two-dimensional light detection and ranging (LiDAR). First, data preprocessing, fast segmentation, and filtering are performed in polar coordinates based on the continuous measurements and high angular resolution of the LiDAR. Moreover, the ship clusters are merged owing to “blind spot”. Then, simple online and real-time tracking with ship features is proposed by modifying the simple online and real-time tracking with a deep association metric framework to remove invalid frames and adapt to different berthing scenarios. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the dynamic distance and approach angle berthing parameters relative to the dock are performed. The frequency of the calculation results can reach a rate of 20 Hz for LiDAR. On-site monitoring experiments were conducted on the training ship YuKun berthing/unberthing in the Dalian Port and a simulated berthing scenario was also established to verify the algorithm. The proposed method proved feasible and effective for dynamic ship target tracking and ensuring safe ship berthing.