Unmanned Navigation Research Articles

ВЛИЯНИЕ ПОГРЕШНОСТЕЙ ИЗМЕРЕНИЯ КООРДИНАТ СУДНА НА КАЧЕСТВО ПРОЦЕССА УПРАВЛЕНИЯ

Autopilots are an integral part of modern ships. However, at present, many tasks are emerging, including the ones in the unmanned navigation field, requiring the use of new control algorithms and new means of monitoring navigation parameters. In particular, to solve such problems as keeping a vessel on a given trajectory, automating the ships’ divergence and similar tasks, it is necessary to have means of continuous monitoring of the ship’s location. For this purpose, receivers of global navigation satellite systems can be applied. To model control processes, it is necessary to know the distribution of positioning errors of modern devices. Some works show that over long time intervals (a day or more), positioning errors can be considered a random process with a Gaussian distribution. This paper presents the experimental study results of the distribution of positioning errors of a ship navigation receiver operating in the GPS and GLONASS systems, in a combined GPS/GLONASS mode, as well as in the indicated modes with differential corrections. The paper shows that at time intervals of seconds – minutes (characteristic of ship’s control systems), positioning errors of the navigation receiver cannot be represented by a random process with a Gaussian distribution law. The paper presents the results of a mathematical modelling of the process of holding a ship on a given trajectory using experimental values of positioning sensor errors. For the research, a mathematical model of an innovative ship with a wheel-propulsion steering complex is used. An algorithm is created that makes it possible to keep a vessel on a given trajectory with an accuracy acceptable for a practical use, commensurate with deviations determined by the design features of the ship’s hull and its propulsors.

Applications of Autonomous Navigation Technologies for Unmanned Agricultural Tractors: A Review

The development of unmanned agricultural tractors (UAT) represents a significant step towards intelligent agricultural equipment. UAT technology is expected to lighten the workload of laborers and enhance the accuracy and efficiency of mechanized operations. Through the investigation of 123 relevant studies in the literature published in recent years, this article reviews three aspects of autonomous navigation technologies for UATs: perception, path planning and tracking, and motion control. The advantages and deficiencies of these technologies in the context of UATs are clarified by analyzing technical principles and the status of current research. We conduct summaries and analyses of existing unmanned navigation solutions for different application scenarios in order to identify current bottleneck issues. Based on the analysis of the applicability of autonomous navigation technologies in UATs, it can be seen that fruitful research progress has been achieved. The review also summarizes the common problems seen in current UAT technologies. The application of research to the sharing and integrating of multi-source data for autonomous navigation has so far been relatively weak. There is an urgent need for high-precision and high-stability sensing equipment. The universality of path planning methods and the efficiency and precision of path tracking need to be improved, and it is also necessary to develop highly reliable electrical control modules to enhance motion control performance. Overall, advanced sensors, high-performance intelligent algorithms, and reliable electrical control hardware are key factors in promoting the development of UAT technology.

Research on unmanned navigation and PID control method for aircraft tractor

Unmanned navigation and control systems are gaining traction in various industries, including aviation. The related issues of control systems are also hot topics in research. This paper comprehensively studies the application of unmanned navigation and the implementation of proportional integral differential (PID) control methods for aircraft tractors. Aiming at the characteristics of large deviation of turning trajectory angle error and long lag time in the process of an unmanned tractor, the dynamic characteristics and state equation of the unmanned tractor are established by the PID method, and the motion equation is established by the Cartesian coordinate system. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed method has good dynamic stability and rapidity. Compared with proportional control or integral control alone, the PID control system has better stability and a faster frequency response, which can be obtained that the PID control algorithm can effectively improve the work efficiency of the unmanned tractor and reduce its instability and slow response.

Autonomous collision avoidance system for unmanned vessels: algorithms and software.

Ship collision is one of the most substantial concerns in the global maritime transportation industry. Hence, navigation safety is considerably cited topic in maritime literature. Recently, Unmanned Navigation (UN) technology is gradually becoming more widely used across in the field of marine robotics. The paper investigates the problem of navigation safety in the movement control of Unmanned Vessels (UVs). The object of the study is the process of avoiding collisions of UVs. The subject of the research is the algorithms of the autonomous decision-making system and software for preventing vessel collisions during UN. The intent of this article is to improve the safety of UN by developing new Decision-Making algorithms for autonomous collision prevention of UVs in real time, taking into account the International Rules for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea, 1972 (COLREGs-72) and the recommendations of the Federal agency for sea and inland water transport of the Russian Federation (Rosmorrechflot).In this article, the fundamental concept and the key functions set of the Autonomous Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) are carried out for UVs which are marine transport vehicles capable of sensing its environment and operating without human involvement. Along this line of research, this work focuses on the development of a software algorithm for determining the most dangerous obstacle located within a radius of 12 miles (recommendations of Rosmorrechflot) around an UV based on the principle of vessels collision avoidance geometry, collision risk assessment and the characteristics of obstacles. Moreover, the proposed algorithms can prevent the collision and address the issues of real-time collision avoidance for UVs. The simulation results also demonstrate the promising application of the proposed algorithms in studying the UN safety. Nonetheless, this study provides a way forward to conduct a new information decision-making system design for UVs collision avoidance. This is currently under development, and will be proposed later.

Current state, problems and main directions of logistics development in water transport

The review study devoted to the generalization of information on problematic areas of logistics development in water transport has been carried out and the main directions in which research is currently being conducted by Russian and foreign scientists have been identified. When processing the data, systematic and integrated approaches were used to analyze the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030 with a forecast for the period up to 2035 and publications on the designated topics posted in the public domain. The problem areas were analyzed in the following blocks: economic, organizational, technological, technical, informational, environmental and transport security, regulatory and training. More than 160 sources were analyzed, 60 of them were selected, on the basis of which the main problem areas of scientific research were identified. It is shown by examples that research often affects more than one area. It is revealed that the following promising areas in the field of logistics in water transport are of the greatest interest and importance in modern conditions: unmanned navigation and related organizational and technical aspects; the use of modern digital technologies for analyzing information and making optimal decisions in the shortest possible time with minimal costs; the use and development of international transport corridors, related technical, technological, economic, organizational, managerial, legal solutions; development of infrastructure projects for their optimal and rapid launch or renewal; improving the safety and environmental friendliness of transportation. The results obtained may be of interest to graduate students and young scientists who are in search of subject areas of research.

Spline standard of mapped informativeness of correlation-extreme navigation as the potential of cybernetic situational awareness

A hypothesis about the possibility of using a spline standard of mapped informativeness of correlation-extreme navigation as a potential for cybernetic awareness is put forward. The expediency of understanding cybernetic awareness as an ontological engineering of the geometric implementation of a spline fragment of mapping to ensure the principle of alternative positioning is revealed. The forecast of the achievability of the effect of the vessel location predictability in the local environment of the satellite signals incapacity in the practical realization of the potential of situational awareness is made. The possibility of conceptual resistance of the developed algorithms of malicious virtual interference due to the unique composition of spline functions in assessing the vulnerability of the bridge onboard computers to a cybernetic threat is substantiated. Attention is focused on the fundamental impossibility of distorting the spline standard of informativeness to disrupt the classical process of linking the measured exposure of the navigation field to the reference one to ensure autonomous positioning of moving objects in any hacker attacks on the target mathematical asset. The main reason for the stability of approximation constructions, which lies in the piecewise architecture of the spline, when local violations of mathematical composition do not affect the overall task of forming a realistic navigation isosurface as a graphical structure of semantic modeling, is revealed. The proposals of effective information processing as attributes of cybernetic awareness are tested on the example of computer visualization of measuring fields of bathymetry and maps of magnetic anomalies in the form of fragments of threedimensional spreading of the planetary magnetic field. The developed package of application programs is adapted to synthesize a spline standard of mapped informativeness in the cybernetic awareness paradigm as an intellectual support for decision-making by a navigator in order to reduce his psychological cognitive load. It is proposed to use the potential of situational awareness as a mathematical support for an automated navigation system with artificial intelligence within the framework of the concept of unmanned navigation in strategic accordance with the A-Navigation project. The fundamental importance of a positive assessment of cybernetic awareness in promoting the practical use of autonomous marine surface vessels in modern navigation practice is determined.

Планирование безопасных маршрутов безэкипажных судов на основе методов искусственного интеллекта

The article considers the problem of improving safety and efficiency of navigation of unmanned vessels. In the unmanned navigation, one of the most important tasks is planning a safe route, which consists in determining the shortest path in the shortest possible time and describing the motion of a marine vessel. The object of this study is the safe route of an unmanned vessel. There is given a review of the research literature on solving the problem of planning the route of sea and river mobile objects. The subject of the study is intelligent decision-making methods for safe route planning for unmanned navigation. The purpose of this article is to improve the safety of unmanned navigation by optimizing the route in the presence of one or more obstacles in the area of movement of an unmanned vessel that have 
 a negative impact on the trajectory of movement. To achieve this goal, the task of local route planning was set and solved by the method of intelligent decision-making based on Biologically Inspired Neural Network (BINN). Methods of artificial intelligence and mathematical modeling were used to solve the problem. The results of the proposed method for solving the problem of planning a local route for an unmanned vessel confirm its ability of the vessel to avoid the local minima points. The simulation results show that the planned local route for unmanned navigation allows solving the problem of avoiding collisions with obstacles in real time, where the obstacles have only local effects. As part of further research, the described method is planned to be used for developing an information decision-making system for a movement control of an unmanned vessel.

Cross-Modal Images Matching Based Enhancement to MEMS INS for UAV Navigation in GNSS Denied Environments

A new cross-modal image matching method is proposed to solve the problem that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are difficult to navigate in GPS-free environment and night environment. In this algorithm, infrared image or visible image is matched with satellite visible image. The matching process is divided into two steps, namely, coarse matching and fine alignment. Based on the dense structure features, the coarse matching algorithm can realize the position update above 10 Hz with a small amount of computation. Based on the end-to-end matching network, the fine alignment algorithm can align the multi-sensor image with the satellite image under the condition of interference. In order to obtain the position and heading information with higher accuracy, the fusion of the information after visual matching with the inertial information can restrain the divergence of the inertial navigation position error. The experiment shows that it has the advantages of strong anti-interference ability, strong reliability, and low requirements on hardware, which is expected to be applied in the field of unmanned navigation.

Features of the Development of a Navigation Safety System for Unmanned Port Tugs Based on the Risk Assessment Method

Despite the abundance of automatic and automated ship control systems, including those suitable for the implementation of autonomous and remote ship control modes, the basics of the navigation safety management system have not yet been formulated, adapted to the features of unmanned and unmanned navigation. It is important to know what to expect from any given circumstances. Only when these professionals fully understand the capabilities and limitations of the various types of tugs in general and the individual tug, including the impact on the performance of the production task, can tugs be used in the safest and most efficient way. The primary task is to create a risk assessment map and a system for evaluating expert opinions. The development of a safety management system for unmanned shipping has theoretical and practical significance, the principles and features described in the work allow taking into account the specifics and features of performing production tasks by unmanned port tugs. court. The purpose of this work is to identify the features of SMS adaptation for unmanned vessels in comparison with the traditional SMS.

A numerical and experimental study on the obstacle collision avoidance system using a 2D LiDAR sensor for an autonomous surface vehicle

In recent years, great efforts have been made to develop unmanned navigation systems for Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs), while further improvements are still required for ASVs operating around obstacles. In this circumstance, this paper presents an Obstacle Collision Avoidance Guidance (OCAG) using obstacle detection with a two-dimensional (2D) LiDAR sensor. After verifying the algorithm of the OCAG in a numerical manoeuvring simulation, the OCAS was embedded in a physical model of a Catamaran-type ASV with a 2D LiDAR sensor. When the ASV sails along with a predefined global path, the LiDAR sensor detects the obstacles, the collision-avoidance actions are determined based on multiple factors including the motion and orientation information of the vehicle, the measured distance and direction information of the obstacles, as well as the types of the obstacles. The proposed OCAG showed good collision-avoidance performances with different obstacle types along the path.

КОНЦЕПЦИЯ ПОСТРОЕНИЯ ПОДСИСТЕМЫ ТЕЛЕКОММУНИКАЦИИ ДИСТАНЦИОННО ПИЛОТИРУЕМОГО МОРСКОГО БУКСИРА

The article presents the concept of building an effective telecommunications subsystem for a remotely piloted sea tug operating in the area of responsibility of a local vessel traffic control system. This concept, in turn, was developed within the framework of the concept of unmanned navigation being created in the Russian Federation, called the A-navigation concept. The work was carried out using an engineering-cybernetic approach to the design of complex systems. According to this approach, the projected subsystem is considered not in isolation, but as part of a complex hierarchical system, at the upper level of which the concept of a metasystem is introduced, which in relation to the telecommunications subsystem is a local ship traffic control system. The goals and objectives of the local vessel traffic control system are considered and the requirements for a remote-controlled tugboat and its telecommunications subsystem are determined. The main stages of operation of the remotely piloted tug are determined. The operations carried out within the framework of the functions of the telecommunications subsystem included in the studied system of this tug are identified and investigated. Along with the functional requirements, the most important requirements are the absence of interference to the existing radio channels of the vessel traffic control system from the telecommunications subsystem and the provision of a cybersecurity regime to exclude unauthorized interference in the management of the tugboat. The scheme of automatic authentication of the operator and his remotely piloted tug is presented. The optimal structure of the telecommunications subsystem is determined, recommendations are presented on the choice of control channels, telemetry and visualization, as well as on the choice of protocols for its ship and shore local networks. The problem of creating a reliable visualization radio channel is considered and ways to solve it are proposed.

On the way to autonomous navigation

The national aspects of readiness and the tasks of introducing autonomous (unmanned) navigation in the near future are considered. The purpose of the study - identification of economic benefits and risks, problem areas of implementation of autonomous navigation technologies. The economic benefit is based on a reduction in the costs of paying the crew of the ship, living on board it, reducing losses from accidents. If the question what? has already been answered - the installation of autonomous navigation systems is available for naval vessels today, then the question why? has not yet been resolved. If the main benefit is expected from a reduction in crew, then a noticeable reduction in crew is possible only for newly built and relatively modern vessels with an auto- mation level of at least AUT2, the share of which under the flag of the Russian Navy is about 15%. At the same time, the modernization of existing inland navigation vessels into autonomous vessels is now available for less than 2% of the river transport fleet (vessels with an automation level of A1), which suggests that autonomous inland water transport only has to be built. The risks also include the slow pace of construction of new ships, as well as retraining and further employment with a massive reduction in the crew of ships. Foreign and domestic experience of the initial stage of autonomous navigation implementation is considered.

Technical–Economic Feasibility Analysis of Subsea Shuttle Tanker

This paper presents the technical and economic feasibility analysis of the subsea shuttle tanker (SST). The SST is proposed as an alternative to subsea pipelines and surface tankers with the primary purpose of transporting CO2 autonomously underwater from onshore facilities to subsea wells for direct injection at marginal subsea fields. In contrast to highly weather-dependent surface tanker operations, the SST can operate in any condition underwater. The technical–economic analysis is performed in two steps. First, the SST’s technical feasibility is evaluated by investigating designs with lower and higher capacities. The purpose is to observe the appearance of technical limits (if present) when the SST is scaled down or up in size. Second, an economic analysis is performed using the well-reviewed cost models from the publicly available Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) and Maritime Un-manned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks (MUNIN) D9.3 reports. The scenarios considered are CO2 transport volumes of 1 to 20 million tons per annum (mtpa) with transport distances of 180 km to 1500 km in which the cost per ton of CO2 is compared between offshore pipelines, crewed/autonomous tanker ships, and SST. The results show that SSTs with cargo capacities 10,569 m3, 23,239 m3, and 40,730 m3 are technically feasible. Furthermore, the SSTs are competitive for short and intermediate distances of 180–750 km and smaller CO2 volumes of 1–2.5 mtpa. Lastly, it is mentioned that the SST design used the DNVGL Rules for Classification for Naval Vessels, Part 4 Sub-surface ships, Chapter 1 Submarine, DNVGL-RU-NAVAL-Pt4Ch1, which is primarily catered towards military submarine design. It is expected that a dedicated structural design code that is optimized for the SST would reduce the structural weight and corresponding capital expenditure (CAPEX).

Unmanned Navigation Development Prospects Based on Structural Analysis of Automated Vessel Control System

The reduction of vessel crew counts and increased automation have been observed in marine and river vessels for several decades. These processes are based, firstly, on the development of modern technology and, secondly, on the urge to reduce the so-called human factor, which is recognized today as one of the key causes of water transport emergencies. It is expected that unmanned navigation will help reduce operational costs, increase the carrying capacity of vessels, and reduce the impact of the human factor on the safety of navigation. This, in its turn, requires the development of a reliable and safe automated control system for unmanned vessels. This article aims to assess the development prospects of unmanned navigation based on the structural analysis of such systems. In the first part of this article, the authors review the classification of control systems depending on the degree of vessel autonomy and the generalized structure of the unmanned vessel control system. In the second part, the authors review the control system structure for a remote-control unmanned vessel and that for an autonomous unmanned vessel.

Variation of the entropy analysis method in information flows of IBS in the concept of safe navigation development

The creation of a configuration by a bridge integrated system in the form of the control machine variation - artificial intelligence, becomes relevant in the concept of E-navigation development with the vector of the vessel’s directional control on the course, both in a small crew and unmanned way. It is possible to consider a large number of mathematical ideas about the basis for creating an intelligent control machine: an artificial neuron and fuzzy sets, Petri nets and Markov chains, Kolmogorov’s differential equations, which are difficult to configure and cumbersome to compute. Multiagent systems seem to be feasible. Integrated bridge systems with embedded supplementary reality assist management personnel in solving navigation issues. Saturation of the navigation control information complex of the bridge system with an increasing number of hardware and instrument units leads to a decrease in information entropy but does not bring to the full automatic control. In ergatic systems, object control is still reduced to declining the uncertainty to a minimum value by means of the operator’s control actions. The methodology for analyzing the entropy capacity of the system and elements of the augmented virtual assessment of the situation in the configuration of multifunctional machine units can be applied in the efficiency criteria development for vessel’s control systems with small crew or unmanned navigation in the concept of E-navigation.

Unmanned navigation system

After Lockdown - 2020, the unmanned navigation system began to be more actively developed. In a pandemic, it became clear that the modernization of ships, namely the automation of most operations, would reduce the size of the crew. This will reduce the number of jobs; on the other hand, this will ensure safety, which, today, is a priority. In addition, the introduction of a system of unmanned navigation will require a revision of the professions of seafarers, there will be a demand for highly qualified personnel, which will contribute to the emergence of new specialties in higher educational institutions. The sources for writing the article were the regulatory legal acts regulating the activities of the Maritime Law and the data of companies working in this area, taken from open Internet resources over the past 5 years. The article provides an overview of the unmanned navigation system market as a separate segment of the shipbuilding market that has significant prospects. A SWOT analysis of the implementation of the unmanned navigation system was carried out, the opinions of independent experts were considered. During the study, it can be argued that all economically developed countries are trying to switch to a system of unmanned navigation, but the main limiting factor for all is the issues of legal regulation.

Gradient fill fairway plotting method for mapping inland waterways

This article proposes a method for plotting fairways using gradient fill of digital terrain models of the bottom relief. The purpose of the method is to improve the accuracy of fairway plotting, ensuring the safety of both manned and unmanned navigation. Non-regulated fairways are usually plotted by eye. When done this way, the accuracy of the fairway placement directly depends on the cartographer’s capability and initial data. Gradient fill allows the operator to instantly and accurately assess bottom relief, without having to analyse text. Gradient fill is used to fill a digital terrain model of the bottom relief built based on an irregular depth grid densified via the biquadratic spline interpolation.

The main characteristics estimation of cryptographic protection in fault-tolerant marine data transmission systems

The article discusses as the stages of implementation of technological and technical solutions (technology of two control points (T2OT) and technology «TOTEM»- calculation of an integrated indicator of the influence of weather factors on the vessel), which formed the basis for the development of the concept of unmanned navigation. The studies of unmanned vessel traffic control are described: studies on planning the trajectory of a vessel, research on methods of intelligent and / or online support for collision avoidance, creation of a data transmission channel and research on traffic control methods. The architecture of the information model of the digital tool platform for the pilotage and mooring process is presented. It is proposed to use a group of specialized azimuthal automatic tugboats (ABA) with the use of multi-agent control systems using the “flock” method for remote piloting. Models and algorithms for cryptographic protection in fault-tolerant marine data transmission systems are proposed Based on the analysis of the requirements for fault-tolerant marine data transmission systems, the article suggests the direction of designing their cryptographic protection – a cipher of the “one-time pad” type as absolutely secure in a one-time mode. Its implementation can be carried out on the basis of a modified Hill cipher with the size of the key matrix that adaptively changes with the size of the transmitted message. The key matrix is formed as the Kronecker product (KP) of elementary involutive matrices, which significantly increases the efficiency of the cipher by eliminating the preliminary separate calculation of the CP, its inversion and the absence of the need to store it in memory.

Configuring the fan of spline gradients when approximating the navigational isoline with a linear piecewise functional

It is proposed to interpret the linear spline as an analog of the line of the position. In this case, the linear spline approximation is understood in two ways: the spline is associated with the line of the position and as the fragment of the restored navigational isoline at the same time. The author considered the construction of a gradient vector instead of a line of the position relative to its spline analogy, replacing the original isoline with a multi-link one. The new concept of a spline-gradient is introduced as an extended understanding of the classical gradient vector with the difference in the construction of the normal to the spline fragment approximating the isoline in a given neighborhood, and not to the conditional tangent or chord. The architecture fan of spline-gradients is estimated as a factor that determines the actual accuracy of the location of a marine mobile object. The author predicted that the proposed approach could be used as a mathematical support for the future automated navigation system with artificial intelligence within the framework of the concept of unmanned navigation in strategic accordance with the e-Navigation project.

Automated system for diagnosing the structural failures of the unmanned vessel

The studies show that individual elements of a vessel component that are subjected to variable-repeated loads may be destroyed even at lower voltages than any other calculated component (unit). This problem is particularly important for the dynamically developing direction of unmanned navigation, which operation may be carried out with a reduced crew, in its absence – both remotely and autonomously. Conditions of cyclic variable loads in corrosive media also play an important role with a total number of operation cycles, which may reach many millions over the entire operation period. It should be noted that the statistics show that about 80% of accidents in maritime transport are caused by fatigue effects. This paper is devoted to the development of software that is able to predict fatigue failure of units and structures. The paper also descriunmanned vessel the application within an unmanned vessel, as well as the use of described mathematical algorithm in a device with the possibility of projection of augmented reality on vessel units for further prediction. The described method of predicting the strength and simplifying the service is relevant when remote security controls are required.