ES2444566B1 - Anti-collision aid system for ships (SAAB) - Google Patents

Abstract

Anti-collision aid system for ships. # This is a support system for the ship's guard officer, for making decisions on the correct maneuver to be performed in the event of a risk of collision with other ships. # The invention consists of following modules: calculator of future positions, evolution curve calculator, evolution curve database, generator silhouettes of the vessel, modified AIS, of transformation of the information received from the other vessels to be able to present it on screen and presentation on screen. # The system is applicable in all those ships that by international regulations must have an AIS system installed.

Description

ANTICOLISION HELP SYSTEM FOR SHIPS (SAAB)

SECTOR OF THE TECHNIQUE

Maritime navigation. Naval Sector Naval Electronics Navigation equipment

STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE

Since manned vehicles exist, there is a new type of accident, and many efforts have been made to prevent them from occurring. In the maritime navigation sector, efforts have been directed to reduce collisions between ships, for which we have worked from different fronts:

-Human factor. Sixty percent of accidents at sea are collisions, and most of them are due to human errors (Zhao J, W F. (1994). The principies of Collision Prevention at Sea. Dalian Maritime University Press). In this sense, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has established a training agreement (IMO. (1978/95). Standard of trainig, certification & watchkeepping) that stipulates what seamen's preparation should be. Although this preparation is increasingly superior, the human factor continues to cause accidents, mainly derived from fatigue on board (Smith, A. (2007). Adecuate crewing and seaferdr's fatigue: the international perspective. (C. f. University , Ed.), Due to the reduction in the number of crew members and the existence of faster ships that significantly reduce reaction times to collisions.

-Regulation. Since 1972 (/ MO. (2003). Convention on the international regulations for preventing collisions at sea, 1972 (COLREG 1972) consolidated edition 2003. London: IMO)

There is the International Regulation to prevent approaches (RIPA), which since its implementation has undergone subsequent modifications. This regulation is mandatory for the maneuver between two or several ships. Collisions normally occur due to non-compliance with the regulations.

-Evolution of ships (Bastida Tirado, J. (1996). Technological evolution of ships

merchants La Laguna: University of the Laguna}. In recent decades ships have

noticeably evolved. The technique provides safer ships both in appearance

structural, propulsion or environmental. However, an increase in the density of

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traffic, along with higher speeds, makes the chances of collision

greater.

-Sailing equipment to prevent collision between ships. It is probably the

aspect that has evolved the most. Initially ships were sailing to the

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seen to prevent collisions. In the Second World War, the emergence of RADAR

(Ricard Rodríguez Martos Dauer, R. J. (1996). Radar Observer Manual. Spain:

Ediciones de la UPC S.L.} was a great advance in this field. Subsequently the ARPA

(Atan Bofe, B. D. (2005). Radar and ARPA manual (Second edition ed.). Oxford: ELSEVIER},

with its automatic plotting system it has allowed two essential data to avoid collisions

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such as: the minimum distance to which a ship will pass from another (DCPA) and the time that

subtraction for this to happen (TCPA}. To this advance the system has been added in the ARPAs

Trial Manouvring (Atan Bofe, B. D. (2005). Radar and ARPA manual (Second edition ed.).

Oxford: ELSEVIER}, which allows us to know what evasive maneuver must be done before

ships that can create a conflict. It has also been a breakthrough in this

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field the use of Global Satellite Navigation Systems (Kaplan, E. D. (1996).

Understanding GPS: principies and applications. Artech House}, which let you know

with exactitude the situation of the ship, as well as its course and effective speed. Another of the

great advances in navigation equipment has been the ECDIS Information System and

Presentation of the Electronic Letter (Weintri, A. (2009). The electronic chart display and

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information system (ECO / S). Abingdon, United Kindom: Tay / or & Francis Customer Service}.

This system allows the information received from others to be integrated into an electronic letter (CE)

equipment such as ARPA, GPS, etc., giving the officer in charge of the guard information,

on a single screen, from the stage where the ship is sailing. The last

technical innovation appeared has been the AIS Automatic Information System (Abbas

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Harati-Mokhtari, A. W. (2007). Automatic identification system (A / S): data reliability and

human error implications. Journal of Navigation (60), 373-389} which allows through

VHF frequency automatic transmission of data between ships, being able to know each

instantly conflicting vessel which is the heading, speed and speed of fall of

other ships All these elements are connected to each other constituting what is

they call Integrated Navigation Systems. As you can see the progress of the technique in navigation equipment has been excellent in a relatively short period of time. However, collisions between ships continue to occur.

5-In the field of anti collision systems we can establish two groups: 1.-Mandatory systems on ships currently. They consist of systems that provide information and alarms, but in which the decision to act rests with the officer on duty. This category includes the aforementioned ARPA and AIS, which provide DCPA and TCPA data, and report by acoustic and visual signals of those

1 Or targets considered dangerous. The information is produced in real time in Al S and almost real time in ARPA, who also has the Trial Manouvring as a tool to produce evasive maneuvers, providing a correct maneuver provided that the other targets do not alter their course and / or speed . 2.-Automatic anti-collision systems. They are systems that are currently not found

15 implanted in ships and in which the decision of action does not fall on the officer on duty, but it is the systems themselves that determine the correct maneuver. There are multiple investigations in this regard that we can divide into three areas (Zhao Jingsong, W. P. (2008). Automatic Collision Avoidance System: Towards 21st Century. 10. Sauthamptom):

20 • Constant parameters method (P., G. The exploration of ship's co / lison avoidance method. Shipping Quarterly, 23 (3))

• Consideration of DCPA and TCPA (a /, C. B. (1983). Manoeuvring times, domains and areas. Journal of Navigation, 36 (2), 324)

• Synthetic analysis of DCPA and TCPA (J, Z. (1989). Modelíng the ship's risk of 2 S collision using the expansiona / set theory. Proc. Of Academic symposium between

Chinese and Japan Institute of Navigation. Tokyo) The new research methods are being based on fuzzy configuration (F, ZJ (1991). Simu / ation Model of DCPA decision making. Proc. Of the 8th l / N Congress. Cairo), catastrophe theory, expert systems ( a /, C. e. (1991) A KBS for marine collision

30 avoidance The world Congress on Expert System Proceeding, (p. 2574)), neural networks, and hypothesis-based reasoning systems.

At this point the state of the art summarize them in two large groups:

in relationship to inventions can we

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1.-Inventions that incorporate equipment that is not usually used on ships (ie different from Radar, ARPA, AIS or ECDIS). In this category we can find: a.-Systems that use, in addition to usual equipment, laser rangefinders. (ES 2 337 003 A1), (JP2009230190), KR20090069711 (A)) b.-Systems that use visual cameras and image processing. (ES-2306271_T3), (GB2281000 (A)), c.-Systems that create a wireless data transmission network. (JP10267686 (A)).

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2.-Inventions that incorporate devices that act automatically or semi automatically on known ship components (such as speed or rudder, or predict future positions) to prevent collision. (ES 2 337 003 A1), (JP9287976 (A)), (JP11125675 (A)), RU2383463 (C1), ES 2176 984 T3, JP 20110084870

Both groups, regardless of vessels, for the following reasons:

its efficiency, do not completely eliminate the collision between

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1.-They are not universal systems. Its commissioning would require the introduction of a new system in all vessels.

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2.-They do not presuppose an aid to the decision making at the critical moment of carrying out the correct maneuver to avoid the collision. Critical moment, except in cases of force majeure, is when an error in the maneuver to be performed produces the collision.

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3.-The inventions that propose systems that can act automatically or semi-automatically on the maneuverability of the ship, is not yet recognized by international maritime organizations, since the action independently of the officer on duty would increase the risk of collision, due to the great casuistry that can occur, derived from taking into account a multitude of particular and environmental factors of the given situation.

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For all the above, a new solution is proposed to avoid collisions that is based on the realization of certain modifications in the currently existing equipment, which makes it easy to implement and low cost, which provides more real-time information between ships and that it supposes an effective help to the officer of guard in the decision making in critical situations.

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EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION The invention object of this patent is based on a basic reasoning. Unless the cause is greater, if the correct maneuver is carried out in the correct time, the collision will not occur. On the contrary, if the Reaction Limit Situation (SLR) is crossed, the collision will occur.

It follows that in order to avoid the collision it is necessary to know the SLR, defined as that moment in which, due to the distance, environmental conditions and evolutionary capacity of the vessels, it is not possible to avoid the collision.

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The invention proposes a system that informs and alerts the officer on duty that his ship is arriving at the SLR and proposes what the maneuver to be performed to avoid the collision should be.

For this, the system will simultaneously display two graphic information:

1.-Future trajectories, with representation of the horizontal silhouette of the own ship and ships in conflict for a given time interval

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2.-Evolution curves, of less advance and transfer - all in one band - for speed, direction and weather conditions at the moment to each band of the own ship and ships involved.

Having the above information allows the officer on duty to know:

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1.-Through the graphic representation of future trajectories, the collision situation, if any, and the time in which it would occur. (Fig. 1).

2.-Through the evolution curves, represented to both bands for the own ship and ships in conflict:

a.-If none of the curves intersect with another vessel, it is possible to make the starboard or port maneuver (fig. n ° 1).

b.-If two evolution curves intersect, which are free and therefore each vessel knows which band to fall to (fig. n ° 2).

5 c.-If the four curves intersect, the system will indicate to the own ship and ships in conflict which would be the correct maneuver according to the RIPA. (fig. n ° 3)

There is a caveat not yet raised. If for any reason, any of the vessels did not make the correct maneuver, the system would indicate, with visual and audible alarm if the point of intersection between both evolution curves occurs at the same moment, that is, if

10 would produce a collision (fig. N ° 4).

With this information the officer on duty has a powerful, simple and clear tool to decide what action to take and avoid the collision.

The invention has another important characteristic. It is based on existing equipment on board ships, so its implementation would not be an excessive expense and the transformation of the equipment would be minimal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Figure 1.-Graphical representation that collects the evolution curves when none of the curves intersect. This figure distinguishes:

20 A.-Representation of own ship.

B.-Representation of another vessel.

T1.-Position of the ships in instant 1.

T2.-Vessel position in instant 2.

T3.-Position of the ships in instant 3.

Figure 2.- Graphical representation that shows the evolution curves when two of the

curves intersect. This figure distinguishes:

A.-Representation of own ship.

B.-Representation of another vessel.

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T1.-Position of the ships in instant 1.

T2.-Vessel position in instant 2.

T3.-Position of the ships in instant 3.

Figure 3.-Graphical representation that collects the evolution curves when the four

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curves intersect. This figure distinguishes:

A.-Representation of own ship.

B.-Representation of another vessel.

T1.-Position of the ships in instant 1.

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Figure 4.-Graphical representation that reflects the evolution curves when presented

Possible collision

This figure distinguishes:

A.-Representation of own ship.

B.-Representation of another vessel.

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T1.-Position of the ships in instant 1.

T2.-Vessel position in instant 2.

T3.-Position of the ships in instant 3.

TA.-Position of own ship if you choose to fall to starboard.

TB.-Position of the other ship if it chooses to fall to Starboard. In this case TA and TB

match over time. Therefore there would be collision.

Figure 5.-Scheme of system components. They are distinguished:

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M1.-Module for the dynamic calculation of future positions.

M2.-Calculator module of the evolution curve.

M3.-Database of evolution curves.

M4.-Module generator silhouettes of the ship.

M5.-Automatic information system (AIS) modified.

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M6.-Module of graphic representation of information.

a.-GPS.

b.-Gyroscopic.

c.-Doppler slide

d.-Anemometer.

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e.-Wave height and sea direction calculator.

f.-Independent screen.

g.-RADAR screen.

h.-ARPA screen.

i.-ECDIS screen.

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05.-Modified automatic information system (AIS) of another vessel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The description of the system components is presented in Figure 5 and includes the following modules:

Module 1.-Module for the dynamic calculation of future positions. It is responsible for calculating the future positions of the own ship, based on the data of effective heading and effective speed provided by the GPS. To draw the horizontal silhouette of the vessel, the vessel's dimensions data (length, beam, etc.) and the true heading, taken from the gyroscope, are used. With the knowledge of the GPS antenna situation and the indicated data, the silhouette of the ship will be correctly positioned on the chosen screen. The silhouette of the ship will be represented several times, in time intervals, up to the DCPA of the other vessel chosen for the analysis. The Doppler Slider will be used as secondary equipment for the speed data of the vessel. With all the above information, this module will generate an outgoing message that includes: time interval between future positions, future positions in latitude and longitude, position of the horizontal silhouette of the vessel adjusted to the situation of the GPS antenna of the vessel.

Module 2.-Calculator module of the evolution curve. This module is responsible for calculating (in case of using an algorithm) or choosing the correct evolution curve (evolution curve database) of the own vessel, using the actual wind data: direction and intensity, sea: direction and wave height, loading conditions: bow draft, stern draft, medium draft, of the ship's horizontal silhouette. The result generated by this module will be two evolution curves, port and starboard all to the band, for the instant (speed and heading) and weather conditions. The obtained would be points with the following data: latitude, longitude and time.

Module 3.-Database of evolution curves. Contains information on the behavior of the ship for maneuvering all-in-one rudder, for different speeds, different loading conditions and different weather conditions (wind direction and speed; sea direction and wave height). For each curve, the database contains x and y points, referenced at different times at different machine speeds.

Module 4.-Module generator silhouettes of the ship. With the dimensions of the ship, the scale and

the forms, this module generates the horizontal silhouette of it.

Module 5.-Automatic information system (AIS) modified. It consists of a team

similar to the current AIS on board, to which its capacity to send and expand is extended

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receive the data generated by the module for the dynamic calculation of future positions and the

Evolution curve calculator module. The operation is similar to that used by the

current AIS, transmitting this information to the AIS of other vessels, which in turn

they will return the conventional information, in addition to that generated by their own modules of

calculation of future positions and evolution curves.

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Module 6.-Module of graphic representation of information. From the messages

generated by the future position calculator module and the curve calculator

evolution of the own ship, as well as those received through the information system

automatic of the own ship of the automatic information systems of other ships,

This module generates a representation to be displayed on a separate screen or

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signals that will be represented on the RADAR and / or ARPA screen and / or ECDIS screen, and

It incorporates both visual and audible alarms. This module will generate visual alarms or

acoustic when:

to. There are or intersections between the evolution curves of the own ship and another

or other ships.

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b. The intersection between the evolution curves of the own ship and another or other ships

occur at the same time for both ships.

C. There is an intersection between the evolution curves, port with port or starboard and

starboard with starboard or port, or four at a time, of both ships, recommending

in this case visually graphically the correct maneuver according to the

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International regulation to prevent boarding (RIPA) or in case of this

produce collision, recommending the evasion maneuver that prevents the collision.