Navigation Aids Research Articles

Overview of the Development of Nautical Charts

Nautical charts are one of the basic aids for safe navigation. Their development went through different phases and is related to the development of technology. The development of nautical charts has gone through certain phases. One can talk about the phases of the development of paper and electronic nautical charts. Paper charts have evolved from the dawn of maritime navigation (or from its earliest periods) to the advent of electronic charts. Recent technological developments have enabled the creation and use of electronic nautical charts in the formats of Raster Navigational Chart (RNC) and Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC). ENCs now take precedence over paper charts and RNCs and will gradually replace RNCs and paper charts on some types of SOLAS ships. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has developed standards for paper, raster, and vector charts. After developing standards for existing ENCs, the IHO has developed a set of standards called S-100 as the basis for developing a new type of ENC. These charts will soon replace the existing ENC. This paper provides an overview of the development of nautical charts with a particular emphasis on the IHO standards.

Improving Learning Outcomes Through Interactive Learning Media Based on Macromedia Flash

In order to adapt to the curriculum changes from 2016 to 2020 in the Air Navigation Engineering D3 Program, an innovative approach utilizing interactive learning media is required. This aims to support curriculum transformation due to technological advancements and the needs of the professional world. Therefore, the objective of this research is to assess the improvement of learning outcomes through the use of interactive learning media in teaching about navigation aids. The research subjects are D3 Air Navigation Engineering 13th Alpha and Bravo cohorts. Data collection was obtained from learning outcomes through Evaluation and Interactive Learning Media on Flight Navigation Aids. This research is a quasi-experimental quantitative study using pretest-posttest design. The conclusion drawn from the review and data analysis, to assess the validity using SPSS, is that the calculated r-value (r) is greater than the critical r-value (r 0.30), indicating that the questionnaire items are valid. Meanwhile, for the reliability test results, a Guttman SplitHalf coefficient correlation value of 0.929 was obtained, which is ≥ 0.80. The Cronbach's Alpha value was 0.861. It can be concluded that all items of the ability variable (x) are valid. The pre-test and post-test scores in the control group were 40 and 75, respectively. Whereas in the experimental group, the class provided with interactive learning media obtained pre-test and post-test scores of 45 and 85, respectively. Therefore, this learning media can lead to increased student engagement and a significant improvement in their academic success

Getting LOST: A conceptual framework for supporting and enhancing spatial navigation in aging.

Spatial navigation is more difficult and effortful for older than younger individuals, a shift which occurs for a variety of neurological, physical, and cognitive reasons associated with aging. Despite a large body of evidence documenting age-related deficits in spatial navigation, comparatively less research addresses how to facilitate more effective navigation behavior for older adults. Since navigation challenges arise for a variety of reasons in old age, a one-size-fits-all solution is unlikely to work. Here, we introduce a framework for the variety of spatial navigation challenges faced in aging, which we call LOST-Location, Orientation, Spatial mapping, and Transit. The LOST framework builds on evidence from the cognitive neuroscience of spatial navigation, which reveals distinct components underpinning human wayfinding. We evaluate research on navigational aids-devices and depictions-which help people find their way around; and we reflect on how navigation aids solve (or fail to solve) specific wayfinding difficulties faced by older adults. In summary, we emphasize a bespoke approach to improving spatial navigation in aging, which focuses on tailoring navigation solutions to specific navigation challenges. Our hope is that by providing precise support to older navigators, navigation opportunities can facilitate independence and exploration, while minimizing the danger of becoming lost. We conclude by delineating critical knowledge gaps in how to improve older adults' spatial navigation capacities that the novel LOST framework could guide to address. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Development and Aging Neuroscience > Cognition Neuroscience > Behavior.

The effects of different navigational aids on wayfinding and spatial memory for older adults.

Navigation aids can help people conduct daily wayfinding activities. However, because of cognitive limitations that can emerge with age, it is not clear how different navigation aids impact wayfinding behaviors and spatial memory in older adults. In Experiment 1, 66 older adults and 65 younger adults participated. They were asked to make turn decisions when the navigation aid was a map, a map plus self-updating (Global Positioning System [GPS]), or a text. After the wayfinding task, they completed two spatial memory tasks recalling scenes and drawing the routes. Results showed that younger adults outperformed older adults on most outcome measures. The text and the GPS conditions benefited older adults' wayfinding behaviors more than the map condition, as indicated by route decision accuracies and reaction times. However, the map condition was associated with better route memory than the text condition. Experiment 2 aimed to replicate the results using more complex environments. Sixty-three older adults and 66 younger adults participated. The advantage of the text over the map conditions was again found in wayfinding behaviors for older adults. However, no difference was found between the map and the text conditions in route memory. No difference was found between the GPS and the map conditions in any outcome measures. Overall, our results showed the relative strengths and weaknesses of different navigation aids and the interactive effects between the type of navigation aid, age, outcome measure, and environmental complexity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A cutting width measurement method for the unmanned rice harvester based on RGB-D images

Currently, the unmanned rice harvester based on satellite navigation is affected by tracked chassis steering errors and navigation accuracy, which can result in harvesting omissions and undercutting. Therefore, we proposed a cutting width measurement method for unmanned rice harvesters based on RGB-D images. The proposed method can provide navigational aids for driving and may also provide a basis for feed quantity detection and adjustment. We designed a lightweight unharvested area segmentation model (UANet) with a mean pixel accuracy (mPA) and a mean intersection over union (mIoU) of 98.28% and 97.15%, respectively, which are both higher than the lightweight semantic segmentation models, such as DABNet, CFPNet-V2 and ENet. We implemented unharvested area segmentation and harvesting boundary points extraction on RGB images, combined with depth maps to convert the pixel coordinates of harvesting boundary points into 3D world coordinates for cutting width measurement. Through experiments on rice harvest field images under different working conditions, the results showed that the success rate of harvesting boundary points detection was 98.33%, the error of cutting width measurement was within 2.34%, and the speed of the algorithm was approximately 9.7 fps. The proposed method can be adapted to complex harvesting scenarios and has the advantages of low hardware cost, high measurement accuracy, and good robustness, which can be extended to wheat.

Navigational health literacy of the population in Germany

Many health care systems are characterized by their high complexity and intransparency. Finding one's way through the multitude of services and finding the right place requires high navigational health literacy (NHL). NHL is defined as the ability to manoeuvre through the health care system and deal with the information required to do so. However, so far, there has been a lack of data on the population's NHL. The objective of this article is to analyse empirically the NHL in Germany and its association with socio-demographic and economic factors. NHL was surveyed with an instrument (HLS19-NAV) newly developed by an international working group, measuring the self-assessed difficulties in relation to 12 navigation-related information tasks. The HLS19-NAV has already been used in 8 countries, including Germany. In Germany, data on NHL was collected from 2,151 adult residents in a representative cross-sectional study. The relationship between socio-demographic and economic factors, and NHL was examined by using methods of analysis of variance and multivariate linear regression analysis. Approximately 80% of the respondents showed low NHL with a mean score of 41.5 out of a possible 100 points. Those with low socio-economic resources, people of advanced age, people who had migrated to Germany or who were limited by health issues had a particularly low NHL. However, even people with good resources had a relatively low NHL. In contrast, the mean score was significantly higher among health professionals. In recent years, numerous efforts have been made to reduce navigational difficulties and to better guide patients through the German health care system. However, according to the results of the study, there is still need for further action. Above all, structural measures are required: this includes the creation of sufficient, reliable information on the health care system and its organizations as well as the implementation of navigation aids, health care pathways and the creation of a health-literate health care system including organizations and health professionals that contribute to strengthening NHL in general.

Limiting the reliance on navigation assistance with navigation instructions containing emotionally salient narratives for confident wayfinding

We live in a world that is increasingly dependent on technology, including for orientation in both familiar and unfamiliar space, which contributes to a long-term erosion of innate spatial navigation skills. In this study, we examined whether modified navigation instructions can make pedestrians less reliant on navigation aids to solve wayfinding tasks. In contrast to standard instructions, the modified instructions make decision-relevant landmarks at intersections emotionally salient and connected through narrative, and thus more memorable. The results of our online VR study with seventy adults revealed that, after navigating an unfamiliar route using modified navigation instructions, people made significantly fewer references to the navigation aid without compromising the accuracy of navigation compared to standard instructions. Narrative-based navigation instructions improved memory for the order in which relevant features in the environment were encountered along the traversed route, but not landmark recognition memory or memory for landmark-direction associations. Our findings highlight the benefits of using human-centred technologies that – as opposed to current navigation systems – promote the encoding and memorability of spatial information during navigation, and have the potential to train human spatial navigation abilities in the long term as a countermeasure toward GPS cognitive deskilling of population.

A Lightweight Robust Distance Estimation Method for Navigation Aiding in Unsupervised Environment Using Monocular Camera

This research addresses the challenges of visually impaired individuals’ independent travel by avoiding obstacles. The study proposes a distance estimation method for uncontrolled three-dimensional environments to aid navigation towards labeled target objects. Utilizing a monocular camera, the method captures cuboid objects (e.g., fences, pillars) for near-front distance estimation. A Field of View (FOV) model calculates the camera’s angle and arbitrary pitch relative to the target Point of Interest (POI) within the image. Experimental results demonstrate the method’s proficiency in detecting distances between objects and the source camera, employing the FOV and Point of View (POV) principles. The approach achieves a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 6.18% and 6.24% on YOLOv4-tiny and YOLOv4, respectively, within 10 m. The distance model only contributes a maximum error of 4% due to POV simplification, affected by target object characteristics, height, and selected POV. The proposed distance estimation method shows promise in drone racing navigation, EV autopilot, and aiding visually impaired individuals. It offers valuable insights into dynamic 3D environment distance estimation, advancing computer vision and autonomous systems.

Software Safety Assurance in Non-airborne GPS-based Landing Aids

This paper investigates the software standard DO-278A from the RTCA according to assurance level 3 to provide a concept for approving software of ground-based navigation aids. For this purpose, related literature and standards were reviewed and evaluated for their applicability for proposing such a concept. The resulting approval concept shows our approach for conducting the development process according to DO-278A based on a traditional one and focusing on an activity schedule. Therefore, the paper offers preliminary considerations at first to show the relation between system and software development. In addition, corresponding standards that are related to the development are presented as well. The concept is segmented in three main phases for software planning, realization, and verification, which are subdivided and scheduled in specific activities. Each activity consists of an outline describing the contents expected by DO-278A and our approach to organizing them. This paper shows our conceptional approach to obtain an approval for software according to DO-278A. This concept is prepared to approve a radio navigation aid.

Impact of Navigation Aid and Spatial Ability Skills on Wayfinding Performance and Workload in Indoor-Outdoor Campus Navigation: Challenges and Design

Wayfinding is important for everyone on a university campus to understand where they are and get to where they want to go to attend a meeting or a class. This study explores the dynamics of mobile navigation apps and the spatial ability skills of individuals on a wayfinding performance and perceived workload on a university campus wayfinding, including indoor-outdoor navigation, by focusing on three research objectives. (1) Compare the effectiveness of Google Maps (outdoor navigation app) and MazeMap (indoor-outdoor navigation app) on wayfinding performance and perceived workload in university campus wayfinding. (2) Investigate the impact of participants’ spatial ability skills on their wayfinding performance and perceived workload regardless of the used navigation app. (3) Highlight the challenges in indoor-outdoor university campus wayfinding using mobile navigation apps. To achieve this, a controlled experiment was conducted with 22 participants divided into a control (using Google Maps) and an experiment group (using MazeMap). Participants were required to complete a time-bound wayfinding task of navigating to meeting rooms in different buildings within the Gløshaugen campus of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. Participants were assessed on spatial ability tests, mental workload, and wayfinding performance using a questionnaire, observation notes and a short follow-up interview about the challenges they faced in the task. The findings reveal a negative correlation between overall spatial ability score (spatial reasoning, spatial orientation, and sense of direction) and perceived workload (NASA TLX score and Subjective Workload Rating) and a negative correlation between sense of direction score and total hesitation during wayfinding task. However, no significant difference was found between the Google Maps and the MazeMap group for wayfinding performance and perceived workload. The qualitative analysis resulted in five key challenge categories in university campus wayfinding, providing implications for designing navigation systems that better facilitate indoor-outdoor campus navigation.

Perancangan Aplikasi Naviku untuk Memberikan Informasi Navigasi Kepada Tunanetra Menggunakan Metode Test Driven Development

Visually impaired is a term for someone who has lost or reduced the function of vision. People with visual disabilities often experience difficulties in daily activities, for example when walking or navigating. They need the help of others to help them go to a room or move from one place to another. Currently, existing navigation aids do not fully meet the needs of the blind. They still need the help of others to get detailed information about visual objects such as the layout of rooms in buildings, traffic signs, and vehicles. Based on these problems, an Android-based navigation application needed that utilizes Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology to help blind people navigate independently by utilizing navigation information provided by voice. In order to help the development process, applications are developed by adopting Agile Software Development principles using the Test Driven Development (TDD) method. The features developed begin with a test fail phase where the developer creates unit test code before the production code is implemented, then refactor the code, and tests afterward (test passes). The success status of the features being tested gets success status with a rate of 100% for all features. Then in the TTS test, testing was carried out with 2 TTS engines, namely Google TTS and Samsung TTS, the results showed that the Word Error Rate (WRE) of Google TTS was 2,86, lower than Samsung TTS which got 4,06.

Assessment of ship position probability in the geometrical figure of position lines errors

Accurate and reliable determination of the ship position coordinates is one of the most important tasks for ensuring the safety of navigation at sea. A significant condition that contributes to the effective solution of this task is the use of redundancy in measurements of navigation parameters. The implementation of this redundancy allows the navigator or automatic navigation aid to control the trueness of measurements; eliminate gross and systematic errors; reduce the effect of random errors; apply various methods of analysis and algorithms for processing information in order to obtain the most accurate and reliable ship position. Adequate redundancy of navigation measurements makes it possible to obtain asymptotically unbiased estimates of coordinates, as well as to solve other navigation tasks based on redundant data. The results of a study on the probability of finding the true coordinates of the ship’s position in a geometric figure formed by random measurement errors are presented. It has been shown in the study that a single redundancy of measurements is not enough to achieve the required level of probability. Elements of classical combinatorics based on the Bernoulli scheme and including Newton’s binomial and Pascal’s triangle as tools are used as a mathematical apparatus for the study. These tools allow us to effectively analyze combinations of mathematical signs, such as plus and minus, of random measurement errors, reducing them into binary sequences, which are described by binomial coefficients. It has been argued in the paper that the low level of probability of finding the true values of the coordinates in the geometrical figure of measurement errors is a strong signal that any method of averaging the measurement results can lead to asymptotically biased estimates of the ship position coordinates. This is analogous to the influence of systematic errors on the coordinates within a certain time interval. From the point of view of navigational safety, a low probability can be qualified as a near-miss situation, which can lead to incorrect control of the ship position. The probabilistic criteria for the necessary redundancy of measurements to approach asymptotically unbiased estimates of ship position are presented in the paper.

Investigation of the Effect of the Instrument Landing System on Flights to Konya Airport between 2019-2022 Years

The Instrument Landing System (ILS) is the most widely used navigation aid system among the precision approach types, which enables the pilots to approach the runway in the appropriate direction and glide slope, especially in foggy and snowy weather when the visibility is very low. This study investigated the relationship between flight disruptions and ILS in Konya Airport. In this context, meteorological events such as snow, ice, fog, and cancellation, divert and delay events caused by humans (company policy) at Konya Airport in the period of 2019-2022 were revealed with numerical data. In light of these data, it has been revealed that ILS not only provides safe flights but also prevents possible passenger complaints and financial losses by reducing the number of diverts, and therefore ILS is also of great importance in terms of customer satisfaction.

An effective obstacle detection system using deep learning advantages to aid blind and visually impaired navigation

Blind and visually impaired people face different challenges when navigating indoors and outdoors. In this context, we suggest developing an obstacle detection system based on a modified YOLO v5 neural network architecture. The suggested system is capable of recognizing and locating a set of landmark indoor and outdoor objects that are extremely useful for Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) navigation aids. Training and evaluation experiments were conducted using two datasets: the IODR dataset for indoor object detection and the MS COCO dataset for outdoor object detection. We used several optimization strategies, such as model width scaling, quantization, and channel pruning, to guarantee that the suggested work is implemented in embedded devices in a lightweight manner. The proposed system was successful in achieving results that were extremely competitive in terms of processing time as well as the precision of obstacle detection.

Discussion on the Optical Performance of TYH-120 Integrated beacon Light under the Backlight of Dagusha Channel in Tianjin Port and the Optimization Scheme

The light signal of navigation aids plays an important reference role for ship pilots, especially in the long channel manually dredged (Dagusha Channel of Tianjin Port). The stable performance of beacon lights is of great significance for ship pilots to identify the channel, determine the ship's position and avoid dangerous objects, which is directly related to the navigation safety of ships. Based on the observation of the backlight of Dagusha Channel in Tianjin Port and the analysis of the location of the navigation aids in the area under its jurisdiction, this paper introduces the optical performance of TYH-120 integrated beacon light in the channel, and puts forward a further optimization plan.

Landmark Sequence Learning from Real-World Route Navigation and the Impact of Navigation Aid Visualisation Style.

Primacy and recency features of serial memory are a hallmark of typical memory functions that have been observed for a wide array of tasks. Recently, the ubiquity of this serial position effect has been supported for objects learned during navigation, with canonical serial position functions observed for sequence memory of landmarks that were encountered along a route during a highly controlled virtual navigation task. In the present study, we extended those findings to a real-world navigation task in which participants actively walked a route through a city whilst using a navigation aid featuring either realistic or abstract landmark visualisation styles. Analyses of serial position functions (i.e., absolute sequence knowledge) and sequence lags (i.e., relative sequence knowledge) yielded similar profiles to those observed in a lab based virtual navigation task from previous work and non-spatial list learning studies. There were strong primacy effects for serial position memory in both conditions; recency effects only in the realistic visualisation condition; a non-uniform distribution of item-lags peaking at lag +1; and an overall bias towards positive lags for both visualisation conditions. The findings demonstrate that benchmark serial position memory effects can be observed in uncontrolled, real-world behaviour. In a navigation context, the results support the notion that general memory mechanisms are involved in spatial learning, and that landmark sequence knowledge is a feature of spatial knowledge which is affected by navigation aids.

Impact of Risk Assessment of ECDIS on Its Situational Awareness for Marine Officers

For passage planning, Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) is a vital operational tool that is acknowledged as being compatible with current paper charts. As e-navigation becomes increasingly significant by combining existing and new technologies to increase navigation safety, commercial efficiency, and security, the creation of e-navigational tools has been launched. Automatic Identification System (AIS), Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA), and Navigational Telex (NAVTEX), as well as the Tide and Sailing Direction programs, are examples of these devices. Although ECDIS as an excellent navigational tool for maritime safety, it is still facing several challenges with different onboard scenarios, which threaten marine safety and prevent having the best decision in the presence of ECDIS onboard, whether primary or aid to navigation. This study aims to discuss the officers' situational awareness for smart navigation by addressing ECDIS issues and reaching a sufficient level of ECDIS performance. In this research a mixed approach (Interview and Questionnaires) conducted to explore risk assessment factors that could enhance officer’s situational awareness by using ((NVivo)/ analysis of a moment structures (AMOs) / Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) programs. The survey used a Questioners as a data collection method, various data analysis techniques are employed to meet research objectives. This study aims to discover if ECDIS is connected to additional Navigational Aid devices through 3 Risk Assessment dimensions (collision avoidance, under keel clearance, weather and navigation warning) will be enhance officers' situational awareness. Study concluded that devices such as (AIS, RADAR, ARPA and NAVTEX) in addition to TIDE program are important and will be very useful if they are linked with ECDIS and enhance officers' situational awareness. Keywords: ECDIS, E-Navigation, Risk Assessment, Situational Awareness.

Impact of Risk Assessment of ECDIS on Its Situational Awareness for Marine Officers

For passage planning, Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) is a vital operational tool that is acknowledged as being compatible with current paper charts. As e-navigation becomes increasingly significant by combining existing and new technologies to increase navigation safety, commercial efficiency, and security, the creation of e-navigational tools has been launched. Automatic Identification System (AIS), Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA), and Navigational Telex (NAVTEX), as well as the Tide and Sailing Direction programs, are examples of these devices. Although ECDIS as an excellent navigational tool for maritime safety, it is still facing several challenges with different onboard scenarios, which threaten marine safety and prevent having the best decision in the presence of ECDIS onboard, whether primary or aid to navigation. This study aims to discuss the officers' situational awareness for smart navigation by addressing ECDIS issues and reaching a sufficient level of ECDIS performance. In this research a mixed approach (Interview and Questionnaires) conducted to explore risk assessment factors that could enhance officer’s situational awareness by using ((NVivo)/ analysis of a moment structures (AMOs) / Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) programs. The survey used a Questioners as a data collection method, various data analysis techniques are employed to meet research objectives. This study aims to discover if ECDIS is connected to additional Navigational Aid devices through 3 Risk Assessment dimensions (collision avoidance, under keel clearance, weather and navigation warning) will be enhance officers' situational awareness. Study concluded that devices such as (AIS, RADAR, ARPA and NAVTEX) in addition to TIDE program are important and will be very useful if they are linked with ECDIS and enhance officers' situational awareness.

The time course of spatial knowledge acquisition for different digital navigation aids

Digital maps on personal devices (e.g., phones) are common tools used to aid navigation. Different types of digital maps can influence spatial knowledge acquisition, and this effect might depend on whether the user interacts with an forward-up or north-up map. In spatial cognition theory, these differences can be used to support either sequential or continuous theories of spatial knowledge acquisition. To test these hypotheses, we compared spatial learning of participants (N = 67) after navigation in a virtual city with either a forward-up map, a north-up map, or a guiding arrow (i.e., a control) as a navigation aid. Critically, participants were tested on landmark recognition tasks and judgments of relative direction (JRDs) after each of four navigation blocks. We also examined mental workload during map usage using eye tracking in terms of the distributions of fixations on the maps. The results indicated that, regardless of navigation aid, participants improved on both landmark recognition and JRD tasks over blocks of trials. In addition, we found an interaction between block and navigation aid. This interaction suggests that participants in the forward-up map group initially produced more JRD errors than the north-up map group but that the two groups performed similarly in later blocks as they became more familiar with the environment. These findings are consistent with the eye-tracking data, which suggested a decrease in mental workload as evidenced by an increase in fixation distributions over blocks of trials. Together, these results suggest that participants with any of these navigation aids perform similarly on some tasks (supporting sequential theory), although the time course of learning may differ between map types (supporting continuous theory).

Visual aid for unmanned aircraft navigation in unknown environments

This study presents a visual-aided inertial navigation technique that can be used for unmanned aircraft in unknown environments. An angular and linear velocity estimation algorithm, which is based on the solution of the Wahba’s problem, is developed using sequential images for visual odometry. It is possible that the visual sensors do not receive continuous measurements throughout the mission, for example, when a sufficient number of features cannot be detected by the camera. Considering that a closed loop Extended Kalman Filter algorithm is designed for integration of visual odometry measurements with the inertial measurements to have accurate pose estimation throughout the flight.