US20110005450A1

US20110005450A1 - Navigated urban floating office or residential structure for independent parties

Info

Publication number: US20110005450A1
Application number: US12/894,020
Authority: US
Inventors: Greg AHARONIAN
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-09-29
Filing date: 2010-09-29
Publication date: 2011-01-13

Abstract

Structures, systems and methods are disclosed for navigating a vessel that can be used as a floating residential or office structure for independent parties, typically throughout the waterways of an urban region (e.g., San Francisco Bay), with navigational routes that minimize energy use while satisfying the logistical needs of users of the vessel, as well as satisfying governmental laws that constrain the movement and location of navigable structures. Also disclosed are structures, systems and methods for navigating such a vessel that can satisfy laws that regulate the environmental impact of a such vessel, and that can ensure the safety and health of people using such a vessel.

Description

1. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation in part and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/569,768, filed 29 Sep. 2009, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes, which in turn claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/191,594 filed 29 Sep. 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.

2. NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT

Portions of this patent application include materials that are subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document itself, or of the patent application, as it appears in the files of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever in such included copyrighted materials.

3. BACKGROUND

3.1 Technical Fields

The field of invention comprises the intersection of the technical fields of: static structures (e.g., buildings) [USPTO Class 52, IPC8 Class E04], ships or other waterborne vessels [USPTO Class 114, IPC8 Class B63], and navigation [USPTO Classes 701/200:226, IPC8 Classes G01C 21/00:36].

3.2 Centuries of Living in the City or Living on the Seas

For centuries, the allure and usefulness of life in the big city continues to increase. The mix of cultures, entertainment, education, business, living, dining, transportation, political and other opportunities makes waterfront cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Lisbon, Cartegena, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney the large, exciting, thriving urban environments that continue to attract new residents.
As well for centuries, people have been drawn to life at sea. Call it a primal urge drawn from our evolutionary origins in the sea. Call it a desire for the different—the stability of land exchanged for the dynamics of water. From ocean explorers to ocean traders to ocean living, many are drawn to water beyond a swim at the beach, or a drive along California's Pacific Coast Highway, Costa Rica's Costanera, Australia's Great Ocean Road, or Spain's Costa Del Sol.
It is very surprising then, that over the centuries, there has been a failure to truly combine both experiences—living on the waters by the city. The yalis of Istanbul, houses with one side directly adjacent to the water, e.g., are as close as you can get from the land side, the next step being mooring residences immediately offshore, e.g., houseboats, junks and boatels. But here evolution has mostly stopped due to multiple technological problems others have failed to solve.

3.3 Defects and Inadequacies: Houseboat/Oceanboat/Riverboat Living

A popular form of living nearest to waterways of an urban region are traditional single occupancy/family houseboats which are moored/secured to land, (especially for vital power/water/sewage connections), as seen, for example, in houseboat communities located in the shallow waters of San Francisco and Seattle bays, and moored junk communities (one family fishing vessels) of Aberdeen Harbour in Hong Kong, and moored oddities such as the 1850s floating church in Philadelphia, or the Tai Pak Floating Restaurant moored in Aberdeen Harbour.
Many patents have issued for new designs of houseboats, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,692 to U.S. Patent Application 2007/056498. A few patents have been issued for related forms of urban moored floating living, including JP2003591 and WO99/20521 (moored, ship-like structures used as residences), and FR2599706 and GB1297245 (moored floating hotels). Non-patent examples or moored lifestyles include new designs for houseboats from Erikstad Architecture, the moored artists barge in New York City (the WaterPod); an analysis of European moored apartment barges in a Swedish university thesis, “Apartment barges—a comfort and safety analysis”, the Edge (a moored floating neighborhood thesis design study for the city of Richmond in British Columbia); the moored Elizabeth River Learning Barge; and the moored floating camp River of Trees in the Atchafayala basin; Such moored structures pose few, if any, navigation problems found in urban waterways, because of their nearly constant physical connections to the shore/pier/land.
At the great expense of abandoning daily life in an urban region, are non-urban ocean-based vessels. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,103, a barge converted into an offshore residential structure; the massive, globally-navigated floating pseudo-cities such as the Freedom Ship (www.freedomship.com) and the Residential Ocean Liners (www.residentialvessels.com), and aircraft carriers. Not only is regular living in a single urban region prohibited with such vessels, some such vessels (and their predecessors, cruise ships) have hull depths (e.g., 25 to 40 feet) that prevent them from being navigated in most parts of urban waterways. Such vessels pose few, if any, navigation problems in urban waterways, other than moving to/and from piers for short-term visits such as for cargo container ships.
Also at the great expense of abandoning daily life in a single urban region are non-urban river-based floating temporary housing. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,418 (a large river-barge-based campground carrying recreational vehicles between cities on a river); the yet-to-be-funded River Cities Condos project, a huge river-barge-based condominium structure traveling between cities of the Mississippi River (www.rivercitiescondos.com); and a variety of river-based floating hotels such as the Boatel Houseboat on the Murray River in Australia. River-based floating housing has a simple, one-dimensional, non-intersecting navigation problem when not moored—avoid hitting the vessels fore and aft, and then only for river regions with dense traffic (most river-based floating residences/hotels travel in river regions far from any urban area). Such river-based structures, at best, only temporarily house multiple parties (e.g., guests of the hotel).

3.6 Problems to be Solved

For over 40 years, others have failed to teach how to solve the problem of navigating a floating residence and/or office structure within the waterways of an urban region, for a plurality of hours a day for most days of the year, where multiple technical problems need to be solved such as the daily intermodal transportation needs of multiple independent parties/families resident on the structure, and the problem of satisfying multiple federal, state and local governmental navigation and health laws.
For over 40 years, others have failed to teach how to solve the logistic problems of supplying such a navigated structure with consumables and arranging inter-modal transportation (e.g., from a structure to a transit system), etc., while supplying energy for navigating the structure for a plurality of hours of the day for many days of the year.
For over 40 years, others have failed to provide for the sale of high-priced residential properties located on a vessel used as a floating residential or office structure for independent parties that is navigated throughout the waterways of an urban region. For over 40 years, others have failed to motivate real estate developers to research, develop, manufacture and sell residences based on the structures, systems and methods disclosed herein, especially in lucrative real estate markets such as San Francisco, Seattle, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Lisbon and Hong Kong.
One reason for the failure of others to so innovate is the sheer complexity of navigational and logistical problems that arise in the waterways of a single urban region. In sharp contrast to the one-dimensional navigation of rivers (upstream, downstream), are urban waterways that pose two-dimensional regulated navigation problems, with multiple forms of crisscrossing daily, weekly and/or monthly traffic (container ships, pleasure vessels, day ferries, sailboats, etc.).
These more complex navigation problems pose unsolved expensive energy supply minimization problems that arise from navigating residences through the waterways of an urban region for a plurality of hours a day for many days of the year.
All of these technical problems are further complicated by the random ship-to-shore navigation requirements of residents (e.g., going to work, leisure activities, emergencies, etc.), as opposed to the controlled flow, e.g., of hotel or cruise ship guests.

4. SUMMARY

In a first aspect, provided herein is a residential or office structure for independent parties, including a first vessel capable of navigating the waterways of an urban region. The structure further includes at least one navigation system that controls the movement of said first vessel along at least one route through the waterways of an urban region. The structure further includes at least one energy management system for determining at least one navigational route for use by said navigation system to move said first vessel for a plurality of hours for any of the days of the year in which said first vessel is moved, with, for example, said route including coordinates of at least one anchorage area.

5. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described herein with reference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a chart of part of the San Francisco Bay region.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are exemplary lists of other urban regions with waterways.

FIG. 4 is a generalized diagram of the San Francisco Bay region.

FIG. 5 is a template version of the diagram of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating two daily constant-motion routes for a NUFORS.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a lengthier, more scenic daily constant motion route for a NUFORS.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating some of the General Anchorage areas of San Francisco Bay.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a region of Regulated Navigation Areas of San Francisco Bay.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a daily route for a NUFORS.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a daily route for a NUFORS.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating variances in daily routes for a NUFORS.

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate several embodiments of the present invention. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and mechanical, compositional, structural, electrical, and operational changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense.

6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

6.0 Index to Section 6

Section 6 of the Detailed Description is divided in 7 parts: 6.1—Definitions; 6.2—Exemplary Urban Regions; 6.3—Exemplary Vessels; 6.4—Exemplary Residences or Offices; 6.5—Exemplary Energy Management Systems, Methods and Economics; 6.6—Exemplary Navigational Systems and Methods; and 6.7 Other Exemplary Aspects.

6.1 Definitions

The term “resident” used herein typically refers to a person making substantial continual use either of a residential structure or of an office structure, typically with the person having an ownership or long-term rental interest in the residential or office structure. For the structures, systems and methods disclosed herein, passengers on cruise ships and tourist vessels are not considered to be residents.
The phrase “independent parties” used herein typically refers to two or more independent groups of related people with partially disjoint navigational requirements for their shared residential vessel. For example, a floating residence can comprise two groups of residents: the first group can be a family of four people (two parents and two children), while the second group can be an unmarried couple or two roommates. Each group typically makes collective decisions as to their navigational needs, but these needs are not necessarily equivalent for the two groups. Satisfying both sets of needs can require compromise that can be coordinated by the vessel's pilot and/or navigational system.
The term “waterway” or “waterways” used herein typically refers to any navigable body of water, including rivers, lakes, seas, oceans and canals. Typically, to be navigable, a waterway must meet several criteria, including: being deep and wide enough for the vessels using it to be navigated through, being free of navigation barriers, and with average currents mild enough to allow the vessels to be navigated through with or without being powered. One example of a waterway is a bay adjacent to at least one city, such as San Francisco Bay, Baia de Guanabara or Tokyo-wan. Bodies of water in an urban region are referred herein as either “waterway” or “waterways”. For example, the entire body of water in San Francisco Bay can be referred to as comprising one waterway, or comprising two waterways: San Francisco Bay and the adjacent San Pablo Bay arbitrarily delimited by the Richmond bridge. Regardless of such labels, the references are to one contiguous body of water for vessels to navigate in.
In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for the general regulation of navigation on American waterways. Such regulations, and more information, are available at: www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/navrules/rotr_online.htm as of September 2009.
The acronym “NUFORS” (Navigated Urban Floating Office Residence Structure) used herein typically refers to a vessel used as a residential, or office, structure for independent parties that is navigated in the waterways of an urban region, wherein said vessel is navigated while satisfying one or more governmental regulations on navigation, housing, health and environmental protection.
The term “tender” used herein typically refers to a vessel or vehicle generally used to transport people and/or supplies to and from an NUFORS and another NUFORS, or to and from a land-based portal. Typically, a tender is smaller than an NUFORS, e.g., a powerboat. Typically, a tender is detachably coupled to the NUFORS. In regions where there are more than one NUFORS, one or more tenders can be shared between the NUFORSs. For a large enough NUFORS, a small helicopter can be used as a tender. A tender can have its base of operations onshore (for example, a company running a shuttle service for one or more NUFORSs using one or more tenders, similar to tug boat services offered in many ports), or the tender can have its base of operations on an NUFORS. While most tenders are powered, residents can also use self-propelled vessels (e.g., kayaks) to connect to land-based portals. Ambitious residents can just jump off the vessel and swim to shore.

6.2 Exemplary Urban Regions with Waterways

The terms “single urban region” and “urban region” used herein typically refer to a region with at least one navigable waterway, a waterway that typically can be characterized as being located adjacent to at least one city; and/or where the waterway can be adjacent to an ocean; and/or where the waterway can be substantially isolated from an adjacent ocean by natural or artificial barriers; and/or where the waterway can provide sufficient space for two-dimensional navigational routes; and/or where the infrastructure in the surrounding urban environment can provide a variety of social, medical, educational, occupational, entertainment, transportation, telecommunications, energy, and other resources and opportunities.
Typically, an urban region has natural or artificial structures that provide some/much protection from ocean-driven storms for vessels on the waterway. For example, the hills of the city of San Francisco (such as Twin Peaks) and of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area in Marin naturally protect San Francisco Bay from the worst of ocean-driven inclement weather (similar protection is provided by the Coronado peninsula for San Diego Bay). Similarly are artificial structures such as the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter in Hong Kong that provide such protection.
FIG. 1 is a chart of part of the San Francisco Bay, an example of a single urban region with a waterway, comprising San Francisco Bay (basically the region bounded by the Richmond, Golden Gate and San Mateo bridges) and San Pablo Bay (the region north of the Richmond Bridge). Not depicted is South Bay (the region south of the San Mateo bridge). Angel Island appears approximately in the center of the chart, with the city of San Francisco to the south (and with Alcatraz Island between Angel Island and San Francisco), and the cities of Oakland and Berkeley to the east.
Some characteristics of an urban region with a waterway, as illustrated using San Francisco Bay, include the adjacent city/cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond; where the adjacent ocean is the Pacific Ocean; where the (natural) isolating barriers are the hills of San Francisco and Marin counties; where the two-dimensional navigational routes include in/out-bound ocean traffic from the Golden Gate Bridge to the piers/docks of South San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond, ferry traffic between San Francisco, Alameda and Marin counties, as well as recreational and fishing vessels crisscrossing the Bay; and where there are ample resources and opportunities, including social (e.g., Fisherman's Wharf, China Town, North Beach, and Jack London Square); medical (e.g., University of California at San Francisco Hospital), educational (e.g., UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco), occupational (e.g., the business districts of San Francisco and Oakland, etc.); entertainment (e.g., Union Square shopping and theater district); transportation (e.g., the MUNI, CALTANS and BART public transit systems, with connections to the San Francisco and Oakland International airports); and telecommunications (e.g., the many commercially available landline, wireless, cable and Internet systems).
FIGS. 2 and 3 are exemplary lists of other single urban regions with waterways adjacent to attractions similar to those available in the San Francisco Bay region, other regions in which the systems, structures and methods disclosed herein can be used. In the United States, there are the bays of Boston (Boston Harbor, and Cape Cod and Buzzards Bays), Puget Sound (centered on Seattle, Wash.), New York Harbor (especially the Upper and Lower New York bays), Long Island Sound (sandwiched between Connecticut and Long Island), Chesapeake Bay (adjacent to the city of Baltimore), and Tampa Bay.
Not all of the waterways listed in FIGS. 2 and 3 have all of the characteristics of waterways such as San Francisco Bay. Massachusetts Bay adjacent to the city of Boston on the Atlantic Ocean, and Santa Monica/San Pedro bays adjacent to the city of Los Angeles, have lesser degrees of isolation from the ocean (and thus can have more inclement surface water conditions that have to be compensated for). In some cases, offshore (covered) harbors (for example, along the lines of Japanese patent application JP63002789 for an offshore yacht harbor) can be built to shelter the vessels disclosed herein during inclement water conditions, or coastal land can be purchased to build a traditional marina or harbor.
Similarly, the coastal waterways of Beirut and Tel Aviv can be tranquil enough (due to the calm waters at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea) that a NUFORS s has little need for natural/artificial structures for protection from rougher sea conditions. A NUFORS can be navigated offshore such cities, for example, hugging the Beirut shoreline back and forth between the northern Aajram beach round the western end of Beirut to the southern beach of Ramlet Al-Baida, along a route of approximate 12 miles in one direction.
Some near-bay urban waterways can be used for the structures, systems and methods disclosed herein. Cities such as Wilmington/Philadelphia and Quebec are near-bay in that their immediate waterways (Delaware River; Saint Lawrence River) are immediate to coastal waterways (Delaware Bay, Gulf of Saint Lawrence).

6.2.1 Illustrative Example—San Francisco Bay Region

In a variety of sections of the Detailed Description below, the San Francisco Bay region is used as the location for a variety of examples to teach how to use the systems, structures and methods disclosed herein in other urban regions with waterways. These examples disclosed herein can be used analogously by a NUFORS in any urban region, similar to the San Francisco Bay region, that has a waterway with regulated shipping channels, anchorage areas, land-based transportation portals (piers, docks) and other constraints on navigation for which the systems, structures and methods disclosed herein provide useful solutions.
FIG. 4 is a generalized diagram of the San Francisco Bay region, depicting the major cities and landmarks. The labels “SAN FRANCISCO”, “SAUSALITO”, “TIBURON”, “SAN RAFAEL”, “RICHMOND”, “BERKELEY”, “OAKLAND”, “HAYWARD”, “SAN MATEO”, and “SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO” refer to cities adjacent to the bay. The bay waters are labeled by “BAY”, and the ocean waters labeled with “PACIFIC”. The labels “GGB”, “RSFB”, “OBB” and “SMHB” refer to the Golden Gate, Richmond San Rafael, Oakland Bay and San Mateo Hayward bridges. Finally, three main bay islands are labeled as “AI”, “AL”, and “TI”, referring to Angel, Alcatraz, and Treasure/YerbaBuena islands.
In some examples below, Alcatraz Island is used as a central reference point for navigation purposes (or, for example, in Puget Sound, one can use Blake Island as a central reference point; or in Sydney Harbor, one can use Fort Dennison as a central reference point). Alcatraz Island is located approximately at a longitude of 122 degrees, 25.5 minutes west and at a latitude of 37 degrees, 49.5 minutes north. Blake Island is located approximately at a longitude of 122 degrees, 29.5 minutes west and at a latitude of 47 degrees, 32.25 minutes north. Fort Dennison is located approximately at a longitude of 151 degrees, 13.5 minutes east and at a latitude of 33 degrees, 51.3 minutes south. Globally, one nautical mile is approximately one minute of latitude distance. At the equator, one nautical mile is approximately one minute of longitude distance. In the region of San Francisco Bay, one nautical mile is approximately one minute, 16 seconds of longitude distance. By international agreement, one nautical mile is defined as 1,852 meters.
FIG. 5 is the diagram of FIG. 4 minus many of the annotations, to be used as a template below to illustrate exemplary navigational routes in a waterway that solve technical problems caused by the constraints of operating a NUFORS.

6.3 Exemplary Vessels

A variety of individual vessels, and couplings of vessels, can be used to support residences based on the systems and methods disclosed herein, especially vessels that require minimal amounts of energy for slow-speed travel (e.g., one nautical mile per hour) while providing maximal stability under regular water surface conditions. Any such vessel is sufficient, as long as it can be navigated using the systems and methods disclosed herein. Such a vessel can either be self-propelled, or propelled (e.g., pushed or pulled) by another vessel such as a tugboat.
An example of one vessel that can be used to support residences is a barge. A barge can provide a large surface area for supporting residences and/or offices, with leisure/recreational spaces adjacent to the residences and/or offices (e.g., lawns or gardens). Additionally, the long length and wide widths of barges result in moments-of-inertia that minimize uncomfortable rocking or rolling of the barge due to regular bay water conditions.
Examples of other vessels that can be used to support residences based on the systems and methods disclosed herein include double-hulled catamarans often used as bay ferries; and couplings of individual vessels, for example mechanically and/or electrically coupling at least two motorboats or yachts to create similarly-sized residential spaces as available on a barge. For example, 12 motorboats can be arranged in a 6 by 2 column format, with some engines removed and the remaining engines jointly controlled by a navigation system.
Additionally, publication of this disclosure, and initial commercialization activities, will attract the interest of vessel designers, who can create new designs for vessels to maximally make use of the structures, systems and methods disclosed herein, especially with regards to navigation and energy management.
Any type of engine can be used to power such vessels, including engines fueled by diesel, gasoline, electricity, and/or biofuel. The low horsepower requirements to navigate such vessels at slow-speed in urban regions with generally moderate to hot climates allows diesel engines to be used to power the vessel's movement, where the diesel engines are modified to use simple biofuels such as methanol or dimethyl ether (DME).
For example, consider a barge of dimension 270 feet by 50 feet. The surface of the vessel can be divided into different partitions for residences. For example, four 30 foot by 30 foot, two to four story, residences can be built on the top of such a barge, with the remaining surface area covered with 10 foot wide dirt and grass areas between residences to recreate the suburban household experience on a vessel. A 70 foot-wide barge can provide even more outdoor space for the residents. The remaining surface space can be used for a navigation tower and/or pad for a small helicopter. A bay structure can be fitted to the front or back of the barge to detachably couple one or more tenders for providing residents of the NUFORS with transport to land-based portals such as piers and docks.

6.4 Exemplary Residences of Offices

Residences or offices supported by a vessel used in the structures, systems and methods disclosed herein can be of a variety of architectural styles, and can be constructed from a variety of materials (e.g., wood, metal, plastics, canvas, etc.). The residences or offices can be mostly unattached to each other (as are houses typically in suburban areas), or mostly attached to each other as are apartments in apartment buildings. There are few constraints on the architectural style and materials used to build the residences or offices, other than that they are physically supportable by the vessel. Architectural styles that minimize weight load are preferred for lessening fuel requirements to move the vessel.
A variety of architectures are possible. For example, a storage area can occupy space under the surface deck of the barge. The first floor of a building, on the upper surface of the barge, can include a living room and dining room for a residence, or a reception room for an office. The second floor and third floors can include one or more bedrooms, or office space. Such residences can be similar in size and shape to townhouses found in city residential complexes (such as the Golden Gateway Center in San Francisco). Or, for example, the exterior of the residence or office can have the shape of a geodesic, a pyramid, or a bottle of Patron tequila.

6.5 Exemplary Energy Management Systems, Methods and Economics

One technical problem solved with the structures, systems and methods disclosed herein is that of the fuel requirements that arise from the need to power the engine(s) of a NUFORS to keep the vessel substantially in motion for a plurality of hours for most days of the year during which the vessel is being navigated, if not for all hours of the days for all days of the year. Exemplary energy management and navigational routes for the San Francisco Bay region are disclosed below to teach how to solve such energy problems.
Consider two possible daily navigational routes in the San Francisco Bay region. The first route is approximately travelling each day between two anchorage points between General Anchorage 9 offshore from Hunters Point in San Francisco (approximately at a longitude of 122 degrees, 21 minutes, west; latitude of 37 degrees, 44 minutes, north), and General Anchorage 5 offshore near Red Rock island (approximately at a longitude of 122 degrees, 26 minutes, west; latitude of 37 degrees, 56 minutes, north). Latitude/longitude specifications disclosed herein can be used as coordinate entries for navigational routes programmed into automated navigational systems operable to guide an NUFORS' movements.
The distance between two anchorage points in those two areas is approximately 12 nautical miles, creating a daily travel distance of 24 nautical miles, for example, at an average speed of one nautical mile per hour (also known as a “knot”). FIG. 6 depicts two such routes as thick-arrowed lines, one route east of Treasure Island, and one route west of Treasure Island. The route east of Treasure Island has the advantage of mostly traversing General Anchorage areas where there is less large cargo traffic.
In general, many urban waterways have space for navigational routes for a NUFORS that can be approximately 24 nautical miles. For example, one navigable route can be a path 12 nautical miles long in the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey, in that part of the Hudson River often referred to as the “North River” (the island of Manhattan is approximately 13.4 miles in length). Another example of a navigable route can be a path in Puget Sound with a northern end approximately near Seattle and a southern end approximately one third of the way to Tacoma near the northwestern part of Vashon Island (the land distance between Seattle and Tacoma is approximately 32 miles). Another example of a navigable route can be a path with a northwestern end near the city of Baltimore and a southeastern end offshore of Riviera Beach that borders on the northern part of Chesapeake Bay.
Minimizing fuel consumption at slow speeds (e.g., 1 nautical mile per hour) increases the utility of the vessels disclosed herein. For example, the two San Francisco Bay routes depicted in FIG. 6 can be traversed by a one residential unit NUFORS equivalent in size to three American Tug 49 boats from Tomco Marine Group (La Conner, Wash.). This NUFORS has an equivalent length of about 50 feet and width of about 40 feet. If one creates a 10 foot wide grass lawn about the residential unit, there is left a building area of approximately 30 feet by 20 feet, space for a two to three bedroom townhouse with kitchen, dining area, living room and storage area. The American Tug has approximately a five-foot draft, and thus is navigable throughout most waterways in urban regions around the world, except for areas very near to the shore.
Published ratings for the American Tug 49 show that one boat requires about 0.33 gallons per hour at one to two knots, so that the equivalent of three boats in motion all day long between the two General Anchorages as depicted in FIG. 6 will require approximately one gallon per hour, or 8760 gallons per year. Marine diesel per gallon is approximately 25% more than diesel for automobiles. Assuming a cost of $4 per gallon for automobile diesel results in marine diesel costs of about $5 per gallon, which for 8760 gallons per year, creates an annual fuel cost of approximately $44,000 per year. For example, if the owner of a residence of a NUFORS deposits $1,000,000 in an interest-earning bank account earning 4.4% a year (or invests in a preferred stock), then the owner will have sufficient funds to cover his or her share of the costs of the fuel. This coverage of the fuel cost by a resident allows the NUFORS to remain in motion all hours of the day for all hours of the year, for those urban regions where regulations do not permit the NUFORS to remain at rest. Where regulations permit the NUFORS to make use of resting areas, such as anchorage areas, for at least a few hours a day, and/or for at least a few days a year, less fuel is needed for the NUFORS to be navigated most hours of the day for most days of the year, and less money need be set aside by the resident. For example, when the NUFORS is in motion three quarters of the time (e.g., at rest approximately 6 hours each day, for example, anchoring in a General Anchorage area approximately from 1 AM to 7 AM when many residents might be asleep), then the annual fuel cost drops to $33,000 per year, and thus requiring a 3.3% return in a bank account.
Minimizing fuel consumption by using slow speeds for the NUFORS (e.g., 0.5 to 2 nautical miles per hour), as well as being constrained by the residents of the residences or offices wanting to make regular use of one urban region, generally restricts the NUFORS to remain within one urban region. At 2 to 3 nautical miles per hour, a NUFORS has a half-day range of about 20 to 30 nautical miles, and at least for the urban regions listed in FIGS. 2 and 3, none are within 50 nautical miles of each other (while multiple bays are listed for the New York City region, they are all one big contiguous urban body of water). In some cases, an excursion trip may be possible to one other urban region (for example, the distance from Seattle to Vancouver is about 110 miles), with the residents agreeing to cover the costs of the extra fuel needed for higher speeds. Generally, though, the navigation of a NUFORS is limited to the waterways of one urban region.
Another exemplary navigational route can have a navigational distance of approximately 96 nautical miles, four times the distance of the first scenario. FIG. 7 depicts a closed route in San Francisco Bay for which one circuit is somewhat longer than the route depicted in FIG. 6. The route depicted in FIG. 7 can be traversed three to four times a day, or only once or twice day, with some legs of the route travelled at a higher speed (4 to 8 knots) where such legs traverse the more-trafficked Regulated Navigation Areas. This lengthier distance allows the NUFORS to pass by land-portals (e.g., the Ferry Building in San Francisco) multiple times (e.g., morning, noon, evening, midnight) for residents to go ashore or return to the NUFORS, as well as pass through scenic areas (such as in the vicinity of Angel Islands). The annual fuel cost for navigating the NUFORS all hours of the day for all days of the year, approximately $132,000, can be paid for by earning a 6.6% return on a $2,000,000 account balance.
A NUFORS can also be compared to a group of 32-foot Nordic Tug 32 boats (NT32) (available from Nordic Tugs, Burlington, Wash.). Four such tugs provide enough surface area and engine power to transport the equivalent of one residence on the NUFORS. At six nautical miles an hour, the NT32 requires approximately one gallon of gasoline an hour, or four gallons an hour for the four NT32s. At $5/gallon for fuel for the NT32, the fuel cost for transporting the equivalent of one residence on the NUFORS is approximately $20/hour, or about $170,000/year if the NUFORS is continually moving. At six nautical miles per hour, an NUFORS, for example, can travel much further throughout the San Francisco bay, including into San Pablo Bay north of the Richmond San Rafael Bridge, and as far south as the Dunbarton Bridge. Similarly, at six nautical miles per hour, a NUFORS can travel further up the Hudson River, further north or south away from Seattle, or further away from Baltimore into more of Chesapeake Bay.
Residents of a NUFORS can deposit a few million dollars into an escrow account, the interest of which can be used to cover the fuel costs (and other costs such as labor). When the resident sells his residence to another party, his/her deposit is returned, and the new resident can be required to deposit a similar amount. Or the resident can sign a contract agreeing to periodically pay for their chare of the fuel cost via check or bank transfer. In addition, residents can also deposit a few million dollars into another escrow account, with interest/dividends earned allocated to pay salaries for pilots and crew members (or the resident can sign a contract guaranteeing periodic payments). Alternatively, the developer of a NUFORS can fund such accounts with part of the profits of sales of a NUFORS.
Alternatively, some of the deposited monies can be invested in the production of renewable biofuels, some of which can be used to fuel the engine or engines of the vessel, and/or some of which can be sold in the energy markets to provide income to pay for other operational expenses. One such renewable fuel can be dimethyl ether (DME), which can be produced from methanol by dehydration, and is a liquid at room temperature under low pressure. DME has no carbon-carbon bonds, so it doesn't produce soot particulates or black smoke when burned. A variety of diesel engines for navigation uses can be modified to run on DME (with or without additives). Methanol can be produced by the plasma gasification of biomasses such as hemp, switchgrasses, and agricultural wastes such as sugar cane bagasse, in some cases, for a few dollars per gallon, with industrially produced methanol available approximately for one dollar per gallon. For every two gallons so produced, one gallon can be sold to cover costs, and the other gallon used to power the vessels disclosed herein. With NUFORS vessels in multiple urban waterways in North and South America, one can locate a biofuel production facility, for example, in Central America (e.g., Costa Rica and/or Panama, two countries with ample amounts of sun and rain ideal for growing biomass), with some fuel optionally sold into local markets while the remaining fuel is shipped north or south.
Using a barge as the foundational vessel for the residents requires less power (and therefore less fuel) than the equivalent of three American tug 49s or four NT32s to transport the equivalent of one residence on a NUFORS, and for many urban waterways, there are tides that can be used to move a NUFORS (for example, the morning tides in San Francisco Bay from the ocean inwards can flow up to four knots, with the afternoon flows in the opposite direction). Additionally, a NUFORS can be powered by solar-diesel hybrid engines, such as some engines sold by Island Pilot (www.dsehybrid.com), with some of the surface area of a NUFORS being covered with solar power cells. These factors further reduce the annual fuel cost for each residence of a NUFORS, or with the fuel saved, allow the NUFORS to be navigated more rapidly and/or for farther distances.
An alternate solution to the problem of providing fuel to a NUFORS can be to use electric engines that are supplied with renewable energy sources and/or fuel-based power generators. For example, Independence Green Yachts, offers for sale a 60 foot yacht powered solely by solar cells panels installed on the roof of the yacht. Electricity from the solar cells is used to generate hydrogen from water, with the hydrogen stored in metal hydride storage systems to be used later in fuel cells to generate electricity to power the electric engines that propel the yacht (alternatively, electricity from the solar cells can be stored in batteries for future use). For navigation at slow speeds (up to a few knots), sufficient power can be generated, though at a much greater expense than traditional fuel sources for vessels (while 60 foot yachts can cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars, Independence's green yachts cost over $2,000,000).
Such financial calculations show that residents with sufficient income can cover the costs of their share of the fuel to keep their NUFORS mostly in motion most hours of the day, for most days of the year (if not for all hours of the day for all hours of the year), as compared to other residents with sufficient income to cover the costs of financing land-based residences that provide equally pleasurable views. For example, a penthouse in downtown San Francisco in the St. Regis Residences, has four terraces that provide a 360-degree panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay region. The penthouse was bought for about $30,000,000 in 2005 and in 2008 was put up for sale for $70,000,000 (“A $70 million view, S.F. seller hopes”, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Aug. 2008, page C1). While the high price is due much in part to location and elaborate furnishings inside the apartment (such as a two-story waterfall, and a 13-seat movie cinema), millions of dollars of the penthouses value is due to the Bay views. An uncompleted villa at 2920 Broadway in San Francisco was sold for $32 million, again with millions of dollars of the penthouse's value due to the Bay views it provides.

6.6 Exemplary Navigational Systems and Methods

For a NUFORS to be useful, a variety of transportation, logistics and safety problems must be solved simultaneously, constrained by the requirements of individuals, families and/or workers inhabiting a NUFORS. These problems include: 1) providing a navigation system that mostly continually moves a NUFORS, usually at slow speeds, subject to federal, state and/or local navigational laws and regulations; 2) providing a navigation system that navigates a NUFORS with convenient access to land-based portals that connect to, or are nearby to, land-based transportation, work, health, leisure, etc., services, systems and locations; 3) providing a navigation system that satisfies periodic and random requests of inhabitants of a NUFORS to access land-based portals; 4) providing a navigation system that can use renewable energy resources (e.g., tidal flow, solar and wind) to help navigate a NUFORS; 5) providing a navigation system that satisfies periodic and random transfers of supplies to/from a NUFORS; 6) providing a navigation system that can handle random navigation interactions that may negatively harm a NUFORS; 7) provide a navigation system for a first NUFORS that can interact with the navigation systems of a nearby NUFORS; 8) provide a NUFORS that minimizes use of energy and water and/or minimizes the volume and toxicity of wastes; and/or 9) providing equipment to minimize the need for navigation for water and waste disposal.

6.6.1 NUFORS Navigation Constrained by Laws or Regulations

Urban waterways are subject to multiple federal, provincial, state and/or local laws and regulations. Usually such laws or regulations are enforced by a coast guard (for example, the United States Coast Guard), or equivalent governmental agency. In the United States, some of the government agencies involved with such laws and regulations include the U.S. Coast Guard's Navigation Center (www.navcen.uscg.gov) nationally, and Sector San Francisco Vessel Traffic Service of the U.S. Coast Guard (www.uscg.mil/d11/vtssf) locally. Background information on, and aerial photographs of, port facilities for urban regions with waterways such as those disclosed in FIGS. 2 and 3 is available on the Internet (e.g., www.worldportsource.com).
In the United States, the Coast Pilot series is a set of nautical books with a variety of information important to navigators of waterways, including information on channel descriptions, coordinates and regulations for using anchorages, bridge and cable clearances, currents, tide and water levels, prominent features, pilotage, towage, weather, ice conditions, wharf descriptions, dangers, routes, traffic separation schemes, small-craft facilities and Federal regulations applicable to navigation. The series, comprising Coast Pilot 1 to Coast Pilot 9, are available at: www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/cpdownload.htm. Coast Pilot 7, for example, includes information on San Francisco Bay.
Many urban waterways have regular traffic that, much like for a NUFORS, are constrained by these laws. For example, in the San Francisco Bay region, there are ferry services between San Francisco, Oakland and Marin County (Sausalito, Tiburon and Vallejo), with multiple ferry rides between these four cities/towns each day, all such trips satisfying governmental laws and regulations (as must trips conducted by cruise ships and cargo ships that travel in the bay). In Puget Sound, for example, there are ferry services between Seattle and Bainbridge Island, Bremerton and Vashon. For a NUFORS, with its generally slower speed, and with one goal of navigating to more desirable vistas, the navigation system can be programmed to determine routes for a NUFORS that intersect for as little time as possible with pathways for more regular traffic, such as ferries, and cruise and cargo ships.
Faster irregular traffic, such as power boats, or slower irregular traffic, such as sail boats, tend to sail at certain times (e.g., weekends) and locations (e.g., between Angel and Treasure islands), so that a NUFORS navigation system can be programmed to avoid such areas when there is a high density of boats at these times.
Returning to the example of the waterways of San Francisco Bay, the following are examples of navigational rules that can apply to the navigation of a NUFORS. These rules are taken from the United States Coast Guard manual—“Navigation Rules: International—Inland”. Such rules correspond to federal laws in Title 33 of the United States Code, with supplementary information in Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Similar rules apply to waterways in urban regions for other countries that have adopted international navigation regulations.
Rule 9(a)—A vessel proceeding along the course of a narrow channel or fairway shall keep as near to the outer limit of the channel or fairway, which lies on her starboard side, as is safe and practicable.
Rule 9(d)—A vessel shall not cross a narrow channel or fairway if such crossing impedes the passage of a vessel which can safely navigate only within such channel or fairway. The latter vessel may use the sound signal prescribed in Rule 34(d) if in doubt as the intention of the crossing vessel.
Rule 9(f)—A vessel nearing a bend or an area of a narrow channel or fairway where other vessels may be obscured by an intervening obstruction shall navigate with particular alertness and caution and shall sound the appropriate signal prescribed in Rule 34(e).
Rule 9(g)—Any vessel shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, avoid anchoring in a narrow channel.
Rule 10(c)—A vessel shall, so far as practicable, avoid crossing traffic lanes but if obliged to do so shall cross on a heading as nearly as practicable at right angles to the general direction of traffic flow.
Rule 10(f)—A vessel navigating in areas near the termination of traffic separation schemes shall do so with particular caution.
For many waterways in urban regions around the world, in addition to the above laws that apply nationally, there can be local rules enforced by local, state and/or federal authorities. For example, the national United States Coast Guard has sectors, for example, Sector San Francisco, that regulate vessel traffic on waterways in their sector. USCG Sector San Francisco has rules, USCG Vessel Traffic Service San Francisco Users Manual (www.uscg.mil/D11/vtssf/vtssfum.asp), including the following rules that apply to a NUFORS, with similar rules in waterways in other urban regions.
Inshore Sector: Sailing Plan—A vessel shall provide a sailing plan to the VTS on channel 14 at least 15 minutes prior to getting underway from a berth or anchorage in the Inshore Sector. Position Reports: shall be made: once a vessel is actually underway or upon entry into a VTS areas; when passing a reporting point; and after pilot change, departure of pilot, or other change in person directing the movement of the vessel.
Route Intentions: All vessels shall be aware of and follow the San Francisco Bay traffic routing system. This system consists of a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) offshore and Regulated Navigational Areas (RNAs) in the Inshore Sector. Any decision to deviate from the TSS or RNA must be made by the master or person in charge of the vessel. You shall notify the VTS prior to deviating from TSS or RNA.
Anchorages (B). VTS administration of the anchorages includes ensuring proper separation of anchored vessels to prevent their swinging or drifting into each other. The COTP has established a mandatory separation of 750 yards around anchored vessels over 300 gross tons. Vessels anchoring with 750 yards, or which “settle out” within 750 yards of another vessel will be directed by the VTS to re-anchor at a greater distance. The vessel that was the last to arrive will normally be the one required to move.
Anchorages (F). No vessel may anchor in a “dead ship” status (propulsion or control unavailable for normal operation) at any anchorage other than Anchorage 9 without the prior approval of the Captain of the Port. Any vessel anchoring in a “dead ship” status shall have one assist tug of adequate bollard pull on standby and immediately available (maximum of 15 minute response time) to provide emergency maneuvering. When the sustained winds are 20 knots or greater, or when the wind gusts are 25 knots or greater, the tug must be alongside.
Recreation Areas: Recreation areas are intended primarily for use by recreational vessels. Such areas should not be used by vessels 300 gross tons or more, except in case of emergency or special circumstances.
Traffic Lanes: Traffic lanes are intended for use by vessels 1600 gross tons and over; arrows on navigation charts indicate the appropriate direction of flow within each lane. The provisions of Inland Navigation Rule 9 apply to all vessels navigating in the traffic lanes.
Anchorages: Within the navigable waters of San Francisco Bay, anchoring is prohibited outside of designated anchorages except when required for safety or with the written permission of the Captain of the Port.

6.6.2 NUFORS Navigation Constrained by Land-Portal Access

Periodically, often multiple times a day, a NUFORS can be navigated to provide access to land-based portals, so that residents can be transported to land-based transportation systems to be able to travel to locations for work, shopping, entertainment, etc. Such access can be arranged at fixed times each day (e.g., circa 8 AM for traveling to work, 6 PM for traveling back to a NUFORS, etc.) Other times for transport can be arranged at the request of one or more residents. Residents can be transferred by a variety of tenders.
For example, consider San Francisco bay, where residents of a NUFORS want to make use of facilities and services in the city of San Francisco. The navigation system can navigate a NUFORS so that the NUFORS passes close by (or docks to) the piers at the Ferry Building and/or near Fisherman's Wharf. For nearby passage (for example, through Temporary Anchorage 7), a tender attached to the NUFORS can transport residents to/from the NUFORS and piers. Once at a pier, the residents can transfer to ground-based transportation (foot, bike, rental car, cab, limo, public transit, etc.). The Ferry Building (and nearby piers) is approximately at latitude 122 degrees, 23.5 minutes and longitude 37 degrees, 48 minutes. Fisherman's Wharf (and nearby piers) is approximately at latitude 122 degrees, 25 minutes and longitude 37 degrees, 48.8 minutes. One location inside Temporary Anchorage 7, convenient for transfer using a tender from the NUFORS to any of these piers in San Francisco, is at latitude 122 degrees, 23 minutes and longitude 37 degrees, 49 minutes.
Traversing such pre-arranged connections typically can require much time, given the close proximity of a NUFORS to the land-based portal (for connections without docking). Random connections requested by residents when a NUFORS is farther from such portals impose an extra time burden on the residents, for example, in terms of extra travel distance for the tender.
For some urban waterways, boat slips can be rented/owned to allow occasional docking of a NUFORS. For example, in Seattle, the Salmon Bay Marina Center (www.sbmcseattle.com) leases or sells slips that can accommodate vessels from 100 feet to 275 feet, with office and residential space in the vicinity of the slips. Such space can be used by a resident of a NUFORS who desires to remain on land for a few nights, or who has missed one of the periodic transports to a NUFORS. For example, in the San Francisco Bay region, NUFORS docking spaced may be leased in the Oakland Outer Harbor adjacent the now-closed Oakland Army Base. For example, in the New York City region, NUFORS docking space may be leased in the vicinity of where the Newtown Creek meets the East River.

6.6.3 Medical Emergencies

If a resident gets a sudden hankering for Chinese food (e.g., from Hunan Home's Restaurant, in San Francisco), but a NUFORS is too far from a land portal, well, that's a disappointment/failure for the resident who has to wait until a connection is more logistically feasible. But if a resident has a dire need for medical services, there can be no failure. For regular medical needs (e.g., such as a checkup or minor toothache), for which the resident is mostly ambulatory, the above periodic connections to land portals can suffice in terms of convenience for seeking treatment. For more critical medical conditions, when a NUFORS is sufficiently close to a land portal, and the resident is mostly ambulatory, the NUFORS can be navigated towards an ambulance-accessible land portal, where the resident, for example, can be transported via a tender. For example, in San Francisco Bay, a NUFORS can be navigated close to the piers near 20^thand 3^rdStreets. The resident can be tendered to a pier, and met by an ambulance or other vehicle and driven transport a short distance up 20^thStreet and then one block left onto Portero Street to San Francisco General Hospital.
When the resident is not ambulatory (e.g., a heart attack or stroke), or the medical condition requires much more immediate treatment, arrangements can be made for helicopter or Coast Guard transfer of the medically-impaired resident to a hospital with a trauma center. For a NUFORS with sufficient space, a small helicopter (such as the Robertson R22) can be stored onboard for use in emergency trips (and/or used for recreational trips). For example, in San Francisco Bay, a helicopter can be used to transfer a medically-impaired resident to the region centrally-located Oakland Children's Hospital (or the future UCSF Mission Bay Med Center).

6.6.4 NUFORS Navigation Constrained by Requests of the NUFORS' Inhabitants

Navigation terminals in each residence can provide residents partial access to the navigation system of a NUFORS, for example, to allow the residents to view graphical displays of the current and projected positions of the NUFORS, and to allow residents to request schedule changes in the timing of future land portal connections, etc.
With such terminals, residents can enter requests for additional connections, which the navigation system can use to determine the feasibility of providing navigation for such connections, before indicating approval to the resident. For example, if a NUFORS passes the San Francisco Ferry Building once an hour on the hour during the day, and a resident requests a connection at the half hour, and there are no other resident requests, the navigation system can determine if such a connection is possible (e.g., if nearby traffic is light, the NUFORS can be navigated to drift back and forth offshore near the Ferry Building). The navigation system can be programmed to require a minimum time (e.g., 30 minutes) as advance warning for any navigation requests of the resident, and can bill a cost if the required fuel exceeds some agreed upon level.
Also, residents can request for specific navigation paths that provide specific vistas of the region. For example, in San Francisco Bay, if there are no other resident requests, and bay traffic is light, the navigation system can determine a navigation path that satisfies a resident's request to travel about Angel Island.

6.6.5 NUFORS Navigation Constrained by Use of Renewable Energy Sources

A NUFORS imposes an extra energy cost on residents as compared to moored residents—that of the fuel needed to power the vessel so that the NUFORS can travel along the calculated navigational paths. One way to minimize such energy costs can be to use renewable energy resources, such as tidal flows and solar energy panels (to power electric propulsion motors).
For example, in San Francisco Bay, a NUFORS can use tidal flows to move up to the North Bay Region, where with less water traffic, the NUFORS can save energy by remaining mostly at rest. When the tide reverses (the same day, or a following day), the NUFORS can move back to the central bay region. Similar tidal flows, for example, can be made use of with the Lisbon's Tagus Bay.

6.6.6 NUFORS Navigation Constrained by Supplies Transfers

Periodically, though less frequently than the daily land-based connection needs of the residents, a NUFORS needs to connect to land-based portals for facilitating the transfer of operational supplies and/or wastes. For example, such transfers can occur during times when residents are imposing few navigational burdens, such as at night when the residents can be sleeping, or during the day when the residents can be onshore. Alternatively, arrangements can be made for another vessel to transport supplies and/or wastes to and from a NUFORS.
Foremost for transfer can be operational supplies for navigating a NUFORS (e.g., fuel, oil, engine equipment), which can be acquired at traditional port facilities. Such fuel can be used to navigate a NUFORS, provide heat for residents, provide electricity for residents, etc. An additional supply to be acquired is water, both for the needs of a NUFORS (e.g., cooling and cleaning equipment) and the personal needs of residents (e.g., bathing, cleaning, consumption). Transfer of mail, food supplies, and other household goods can be handled at the same time.
The NUFORS navigation computers can be used to prepare orders of foods and other stuffs based on requests from one or more residents. For example, such orders can be forwarded to local supermarkets (e.g., Safeway in San Francisco) and the like (e.g., Waiters On Wheels in San Francisco) for fulfillment and delivery to a land portal, whereupon ordered goods are eventually conveyed to a NUFORS.
Acquiring supplies eventually leads to the need to eliminate wastes. For example, small volumes of waste can be temporarily stored on a NUFORS, and then transferred to a land-based waste disposal service. Any urban waterway that experiences cruise ships already has much of the port infrastructure needed to support the waste (and operational and personal supply) needs of a NUFORS. The wastes can be transferred using a tender associated with a NUFORS, or directly removed if the NUFORS is temporarily docked.

6.6.7 NUFORS Navigation Constrained by Random Harmful Incidents

A NUFORS navigation system can be programmed to handle random incidents that threaten the safety of residents and integrity of the NUFORS. Such incidents include collisions with other floating structures, collisions with fixed objects (e.g., bridges, underwater terrain), and accidents on the NUFORS.
In most such cases, navigation of a NUFORS stops, or is substantially slowed. The navigation system can navigate the NUFORS in coordination with any rescue vehicle, for example, with the slower moving, or at rest, the NUFORS moving according to orders received from a rescuing vessel (e.g., a Coast Guard cruiser).

6.6.8 NUFORS Navigation Constrained by Navigation of An Adjacent NUFORS

Given the popularity of the NUFORS concept, in any given urban region, there can be more than one NUFORS be navigated in the waterway, a community of sorts.
If NUFORSs share similar navigation systems, the navigation systems can be programmed to simultaneously navigate multiple NUFORSs. For example, three NUFORSs can be arranged in a column, with the lead NUFORS providing navigational guidance for the other two, similar to a floating train.
Alternatively, each NUFORS can model any other nearby NUFORS as just an additional vessels to be navigated away from at regulated distances.
A NUFORS navigation system can be programmed to occasionally move a NUFORS close enough to another NUFORS to allow transfer of supplies and people. This coordinated navigation can minimize the number of times multiple NUFORS s need to access land portals to facilitate transfer of supplies, as well as provides opportunities to create an extended-area NUFORS across which residents can socialize.

General Navigation and Energy Management System Configurations

In view of the above navigational considerations, the NUFORS navigation system and/or energy management system (possibly in conjunction with each other, or one system can be a sub-system of the other) may be configured or programmed to control movement of the NUFORS in the waterway of an urban region for all days of the year, or up to most or some days of the year, e.g., up to 365 (every day of the year), 310 (six days a week), 260 (five days a week), 182 (every other day of the year), 69 (five days a month plus nine holidays), or 52 (one day a week) days of the year, according to one or more of the following exemplary daily schemes for controlling the movement of the NUFORS:

- a. the total length of the route of the NUFORS in a given day may be in the range up to 100 nautical miles;
- b. the total length of time of movement of the NUFORS in the waterway in a given day may be less than 24 hours, with at least one period of time in a given day when the NUFORS is not subject to controlled movement (e.g., may be adrift in an anchorage, or moored to a pier);
- c. the speed of the NUFORS when subject to controlled movement by the navigation system may be a substantially constant value between 0 to 9 knots, or the speed may be controlled to vary in a regular pattern within the aforementioned range;
- d. the route of the NUFORS may be controlled by the navigation system to be one or more straight segments, in the form of a closed shape, such as a circular, elliptical, rectangular, trapezoidal, pentagonal, or hexagonal (and smooth shapes thereof), or a combination thereof (for example, a straight line segment, followed by a loop around an island in the waterway, followed by a straight line segment); and
- e. the route of the NUFORS in a given day may be controlled to have at least one stopping point in any given day, whereby a stopping point or area is a point at which or an area outside of which the NUFORS does not generally move relative to the earth's surface (aside from movement of the vessel about its stopping point caused by currents or waves), for which the stopping point may be an anchorage point or area or docking point or area.

Taking into account the above-mentioned schemes, some real-life practical examples are now described with reference to particular waterways around the world. These examples are intended to be non-limiting on the invention and demonstrate the way in which the abovementioned schemes can be applied to solved the problems described above.

Examples of Navigation Routes Satisfying Navigation Problems in Light of the Above Constraints

The following examples use the waterways of the San Francisco region to teach and illustrate navigational techniques for the structures, systems and methods disclosed herein for the waterways of any urban region. Routes in the following examples can be programmed into the navigational and/or energy management systems, or determined dynamically by the navigational and/or energy management systems.
FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting some of the General Anchorage areas of San Francisco Bay, areas which are located mostly on the east side of the bay ( areas 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9), and a Temporary Anchorage area (area 7) between the northern San Francisco piers and Treasure Island. The routes depicted in FIG. 6, which traverse these general anchorages, can be travelled daily in mostly continual motion at approximately one nautical mile an hour; or can be travelled via a stop-and-go pattern of motion, anchoring in each anchorage for a length of time, before travelling at a higher knot rate to the next anchorage, with the entire range of motion averaging approximately one nautical mile per hour. Routes shorter than those depicted in FIG. 6 can be travelled more slowly to save fuel, or travelled multiple times each day, while longer routes can be travelled more rapidly each day, or more slowly for route completion requiring a few days.
One example of a route to be navigated many days of the year is for a NUFORS to remain at anchor, or slowly adrift, in General Anchorage 9 during the late night, approximately from 1 AM to 7 AM, for example, offshore from Hunters Point, approximately at a longitude of 122 degrees, 21 minutes and a latitude of 37 degrees, 44 minutes (a location which provides nice views of the night skylines of San Francisco and Oakland). Then at about 7 AM, the NUFORS starts travelling north, arriving in the waters between San Francisco and Oakland around 9 AM (so that residents can take shuttles to connect to transport for work or pleasure), and then is navigated much of the morning and afternoon in and around General Anchorages 4, 5 and 6 (which provides close shuttle access to Berkeley and Treasure Islands). Around 5 PM, the NUFORS can be navigated back to the lower part of Anchorage 6, for example, to pickup residents returning from their daily land-based activities. Depending on water traffic, the NUFORS can also be navigated in a counter-clockwise loop around Alcatraz Island in the early evening, providing residents with excellent views, and close access to the nightlife of San Francisco (e.g., Fisherman's Wharf, North Beach, Chinatown) via a tender to the northern piers. Afterwards, the NUFORS can be navigated south towards resting points in General Anchorage 9.
Such a daily route satisfies the navigation rules discussed above, while satisfying the logistical constraints of residents, in particular, periodic transfer to land-based transportation systems. The daily route can vary in numerous ways, with a NUFORS in motion and at anchor for different amounts of times at different locations, with all such routes travelling through the eastern General Anchorages 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9. Relying on a variety of similar daily routes eases the familiarity of local authorities with the travels of a NUFORS, routes which are typically filed with such authorities.
Similar navigation routes can be designed for a NUFORS in other urban waterways with general anchorage areas. General anchorage areas provide space for more navigational solutions for navigating a NUFORS, which can optionally either be in motion, or be at rest, in such areas. For example, if a NUFORS needs to be navigated across a shipping channel for which there is a cargo ship passing through, the NUFORS can mostly drift in a nearby general anchorage area until the cargo ship has cleared the area.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a region of the main Regulated Navigation Areas of San Francisco Bay. When a NUFORS is navigated outside of a General Anchorage, it will typically traverse a Regulated Navigational Area, typically narrow sections of the bay where heavy vessel traffic is being navigated to and from offshore locations, for example, cargo ships moving from offshore under the Golden Gate Bridge with a termination at the piers at Oakland Harbor. For example, for San Francisco Bay, the Captain of the Port has designated all major deep draft ship channels as narrow channels or fairways, with some channels designated as Regulated Navigation Areas to help organize traffic patterns. (See “Rule 9 . . . A Rule to Live By”, http://www.uscg.mil/d11/vtssf/rule9.asp). In such areas, smaller vessels should avoid impeding larger vessels under the terms of Colregs Rule 9. Larger vessels are given deference due to their need for more time and space to maneuver to avoid collision.
A NUFORS can satisfy Rule 9 regulations, for example, by having the pilot and/or navigation system obtain schedules of heavy vessel traffic in waterways such as the San Francisco Bay (or the Puget Sound or Chesapeake Bay waterways, etc.), and arrange navigational routes that avoid Regulated Navigation Areas when there is scheduled traffic. Also, fuel saved while a NUFORS is at anchor or slowly moving in a General Anchorage area can be used to propel the vessel at a higher speed while it is moving in, or crossing through, a Regulated Navigation Area, to facilitate design of navigational routes that avoid collisions.

Exemplary Daily Navigation Routes

FIG. 10 is an example of a daily, five-segment, navigational route for a NUFORS that satisfies the navigational constraints described above, comprising linear segments A, B, C, D, and E. All times and coordinates used below are approximate. For example, a route segment that starts at 8 AM and ends at 9 AM can easily start at 8:10 AM and end at 8:55 AM by having the NUFORS navigated at a faster speed. Or a mostly due north segment can be replaced by a slightly longer route that can be mostly 30 seconds of longitude east or west or the original segment. FIG. 12 depicts some such varied routes. The path segments in FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 are depicted as straight lines for illustration purposes only. For example, the five straight segments A to E in FIG. 10 can be replaced by one smooth curve, or a combination of curves and lines.
For one example of a daily route, a NUFORS is located at the beginning of segment A (east of South San Francisco) centered at coordinates of latitude 37 degrees, 41.75 minutes, north; and longitude 122 degrees, 20.50 minutes, west; with the NUFORS at this location at approximately 12 AM. Segment A can be mostly located inside General Anchorage 9. Over the next six hours, the NUFORS can be navigated mostly due north, arriving at the end of segment A (and beginning of segment B) around 6 AM, if the NUFORS travels the roughly six nautical mile distance at a rate of one knot. The NUFORS can also start at another location in General Anchorage 9, if from that location, the NUFORS can be in the vicinity of the beginning of Segment B around 6 AM. Indeed, the NUFORS can anchor near the end of segment A for the entire time between 12 AM and 6 AM.
Approximately from 6 AM to 8 AM, the NUFORS can be navigated along segment B, a distance of approximately 1.75 nautical miles, arriving at the end of segment B (and beginning of segment C) around 8 AM, roughly moving at a rate of 0.90 knots. The beginning of segment B can be centered at coordinates of latitude 37 degrees, 47.75 minutes, north; and longitude 122 degrees, 20.50 minutes, west. Segment B can be mostly located inside General Anchorage 8. Segment B can also be located approximately three kilometers from the Port of Oakland, allowing residents to be transported to the Port via a tender to connect to the East Bay regional transportation system, for those residents that work or go to school or relax in the East Bay.
Approximately from 8 AM to 9 AM, the NUFORS can be navigated along segment C, a distance of approximately one nautical mile, arriving at the end of segment C (and beginning of segment D) at 9 AM, roughly traveling at a rate of one knot. The beginning of segment C can be centered at coordinates of latitude 37 degrees, 48.50 minutes, north; and longitude 122 degrees, 22.50 minutes, west. Segment C can be mostly located inside Temporary Anchorage 7. Segment C can also be located less than one kilometer from the northern piers of San Francisco (including the Ferry Building), allowing residents to be transported to the piers via a tender to connect to the San Francisco regional transportation system, for those residents that work or go to school or relax in San Francisco (and/or points south along the peninsula).
Navigation strategies combining general anchorage areas (e.g., in which Segment A in San Francisco Bay can be located), which can be proximate to regulated navigation areas (e.g., in which Segments B and C in San Francisco Bay can be located) that can also be proximate to land-based transportation portals (e.g., the piers near the Ferry Building in San Francisco), can be navigation strategies used to navigate a NUFORS in other urban waterways. Once such combinations are determined, segmented navigational routes can be specified that can be traversed at speeds/daily-distances approximately equal to one knot/24 nautical miles (or faster/longer if more fuel is used, or slower/shorter if less fuel is used). In the United States, the United States Coast Pilot series available at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/cpdownload.htm provide coordinates for, and regulations for using, anchorage areas in the United States.
Segments B and C pose more navigational constraints, since when a NUFORS is traversing these segments, the path of the NUFORS can intersect active shipping channels at times of the day when there is regularly scheduled traffic, such as ferries and cargo ships. Fuel saved when a NUFORS is drifting in other segments (such as Segments A and E) can be used to propel the NUFORS at a higher speed, if needed, to avoid other traffic while in Segments B and C. This method of fuel allocation and varying speed can be used when navigating a NUFORS across an active shipping channel in other urban waterways.
Approximately from 9 AM to 10 AM, the NUFORS can be navigated along segment D, a distance of approximately 1.09 nautical miles, arriving at the end of segment D (and beginning of segment E) at 10 AM, roughly traveling at a rate of one knot. The beginning of segment D can be centered at coordinates of latitude 37 degrees, 49 minutes, 27 seconds, north; and longitude 122 degrees, 22 minutes, 54 seconds, west. Segment D can end inside General Anchorage 6. Segment D can be far from the northern piers of San Francisco, but still reasonably reachable by a tender. Segment D can be approximately three kilometers from the Berkeley piers, allowing the residents of a NUFORS to be transported to the piers via a tender to connect to the East Bay transportation system.
Approximately from 10 AM to 1 PM, the NUFORS can be navigated along segment E, a distance of approximately 3.89 nautical miles, arriving at the end of segment E (and beginning of the return navigational route) at 1 PM, roughly traveling at a rate of 1.3 knots. The beginning of segment E can be centered at coordinates of latitude 37 degrees, 50 minutes, 12 seconds, north; and longitude 122 degrees, 21 minutes, 54 seconds, west. The end of segment E can be centered at coordinates of latitude 37 degrees, 54 minutes, north; and longitude 122 degrees, 23 minutes, west. Segment E can be mostly located inside General Anchorage 6, starting approximately in the southern side of the Anchorage and ending approximately in the northern side. Navigational routes for Segment E can be quite varied, as long as at the end of travel in Segment E, the NUFORS is approximately near the location of Segment D, so that the NUFORS can start a southern journey near the end of the workday to travel approximately nearby ports and piers to transfer NUFORS residents.
The second 12 hours of daily navigation for the NUFORS can be approximately the same segment order in reverse. The NUFORS travels segment E from approximately 1 PM to 4 PM, segment D from approximately 4 PM to 5 PM, segment C from approximately 5 PM to 6 PM (and thus in a convenient location to pick-up residents returning from work, school or play in San Francisco), segment B from approximately 6 PM to 8 PM (and thus in convenient location to pick-up residents returning from work, school or play in the East Bay), and segment A from approximately 8 PM to 12 AM.
Routes similar to that depicted in FIG. 10 allows a NUFORS to mostly travel at a rate of one knot, minimizing economic constraints on fuel consumption. The NUFORS can also be navigated through anchorage areas that allow the NUFORS to temporarily slow down to drift rates to save fuel, using the saved fuel to later cross Regulated Navigational Areas/shipping lanes at much higher rates (many knots) to avoid any other traffic such as cargo ships or ferries, and thus satisfy all regional navigational rules. A route for a NUFORS can be timed to be located approximately adjacent to land-based transportation portals (e.g., for San Francisco Bay, near the San Francisco piers and Port of Oakland) so that residents can easily transfer back and forth to the NUFORS via a tender at times coordinated to the work, educational or entertainment needs.
The exemplary route specified above is mostly a route that, in early mornings and evenings, can have a NUFORS located off of South San Francisco (with southern views of San Francisco and Oakland, views of the San Francisco peninsula hills and the East Bay hills south of Oakland, and views of the Oakland and San Francisco airports), a route that, in the late mornings and afternoons, can have the NUFORS located west of Berkeley (with northern views of San Francisco and Oakland, views of the main Bay islands, and views of the Marin headlands).
These locations can be reversed, with a NUFORS located off of South San Francisco in the late mornings and afternoons, and west of Berkeley in the early mornings and afternoons. For such positioning, the NUFORS can approximately traverse Segment E from 12 AM to 6 AM, Segment D from 6 AM to 7 AM, Segment C from 7 AM to 8 AM, Segment B from 8 AM to 10 AM and segment A from 10 AM to 12 PM. In reverse, the NUFORS can traverse segment A from 12 PM to 3 PM, Segment B from 3 PM to 5 PM, Segment C from 5 PM to 6 PM, Segment D from 6 PM to 7 PM, and Segment E from 7 PM to 12 AM.
The path for any one segment can be varied in numerous different ways, as long as the daily NUFORS-to-land transfers satisfy the timing needs of residences. For example, FIG. 12 shows a plurality of different paths for Segments A and E, as variants of the paths for Segments A and E in FIG. 10. Where paths in FIG. 12 are shorter or longer than those in FIG. 10, the speed of the NUFORS can be adjusted to meet any timing constraints for NUFORS-to-land transfers.
Exemplary routes specified above have a NUFORS being navigated at least a few hours along both segments A and E, travelling west and south of Treasure Island during segments B and C to facilitate transfer of residents of the NUFORS to/from land-based transportation portals. Optionally, a NUFORS can be navigated in a loop around Treasure Island to traverse either Segment A or Segment E each day (and thus located north of San Francisco and Oakland most of the day, or located south of San Francisco and Oakland most of the day). For example, to mostly avoid Segment A, the NUFORS can approximately traverse Segment E from 12 AM to 6 AM, Segment D from 6 AM to 7 AM, Segment C from 7 AM to 8 AM, Segment B from 8 AM to 10 AM, and then be navigated east and north of Treasure Island (Segment F in FIG. 11) to a location in General Anchorage 6 near either Segment E or Segment D, being navigated and/or drifting through General Anchorage 6 from approximately 10 AM to 4 PM. From approximately 4 PM to 5 PM, the NUFORS traverses segment D, and approximately from 5 PM to 8 PM traverses Segments C and B which are nearby the ports and piers of San Francisco and Oakland. Starting at approximately 8 PM, the NUFORS can again be navigated east and north of Treasure Island, ending in General Anchorage 6 to be located during the evening north of San Francisco and Oakland, and then be navigated to be traversing Segment D approximately from 6 AM to 7 AM the next morning, thereby for the most part never being navigated in the vicinity of Segment A. The segment traversal for this more northern route, in short form, is [Segments: E, D, C, B, F, D, C, B, F, E]. A segment traversal for a more southern route, in short form, is [Segments: A, B, C, D, F, B, C, D, F, A], for the segments depicted in FIG. 11.
Another exemplary system can be to have one NUFORS travel the more northern route, while another NUFORS travels the more southern route. Additionally, multiple NUFORSs can be navigated along the same sequence of Segments, as long as they are separated in time and distance according to local navigation rules. For example, nearby New York City, one NUFORS during one half of the day can be navigated north up the Hudson River, while a second NUFORS during the same half of the day can be navigated south.
A similar navigational route can be established so that a NUFORS is never navigated in the vicinity of Segment C, that is, navigating the NUFORS east and north of Treasure Island to directly connect Segments B and D. For either such route, a NUFORS can be navigated solely east/north of Treasure Island (for example, traversing, in order, [Segments: E, D, B, B, D, E]). Navigating east/north of Treasure Island has the advantage of not requiring the NUFORS to cross shipping channels such as are present in Segment C (though for some years 2010 onwards, there is a navigational constraint north/east of Treasure Island due to the reconstruction of the East Bay bridge).
By navigating a NUFORS along these exemplary routes, residents of the NUFORS can be provided convenient access to land-based portals to travel to any of a variety of locations for purposes such as education, work, shopping, entertainment, etc. Such navigational routes also allow one or more residences on a NUFORS to be used as a floating office. While the above examples navigate a NUFORS along segments B and C to provide residents access to land-based portals approximately at the beginning and end of each work day, navigation along such segments can also provide workers access to a residence on the NUFORS being used as an office, also approximately at the beginning and end of the day (with a tender used to transport workers to and from the NUFORS at random times during the day).
By locating a NUFORS for more hours each day in the general anchorage areas of urban waterways, such as in the vicinity of either Segment A or Segment E, fuel can be saved to navigate the NUFORS to more distant locations in such waterways, for example, the northern or southern parts of San Francisco Bay. For example, consider the case where a NUFORS is located mostly about Segment E between Berkeley and Marin county. In this case, the NUFORS can be optionally navigated north under the Richmond San Rafael bridge into the San Pablo Bay, with its views of the hills of northern East Bay and southern Sonoma counties. Another such option can be to navigate a NUFORS west towards the Golden Gate Bridge north of Alcatraz Island and then back east south of Alcatraz Island, returning to General Anchorage 6 in the vicinity of Segments E and D. This latter route, while providing some of the most beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay, also crosses more shipping channels, and thus needs extra fuel to propel the NUFORS at higher speeds when necessary to avoid any other (larger) vessel traffic.
Two or more NUFORSs can approximately share the same route (separated in time or distance according to vessel regulations). For example, two NUFORSs can be separated by a few hundred yards as they are navigated along a similar route on the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey.
In those urban regions where two or more NUFORSs are used, one or more tenders can be shared to transport residents to/from a NUFORS to land-based portals. These tenders can belong to a NUFORS, or be associated with a land-based transportation service (for example, Baydelta Maritime located at Pier 15 in San Francisco). Such tenders allow a NUFORS to be navigated for less time near land-based portals (which can be close to more trafficked shipping channels), with the extra distance to be covered by tenders.

6.6.9 NUFORS Navigation that Minimizes use of Energy, Water, and Waste Disposal

One major logistic advantage of land-based residential housing or office space is the simplicity of supplying the main utility needs of oil, electricity and water, typically provided through underground piping or conduits. Indeed, most traditional houseboats are generally fixed in place, with no navigation needs, because the houseboats rely on the same type of physical connections to utilities as do land-based buildings. For land-based buildings, residential or office, it is also relatively easy to remove wastes, for example, by putting physical wastes in containers outside the building for pickup by public or private waste disposal services, or by making use of piping and conduits to transport wastes that are mostly fluid to public water treatment facilities. All that is needed is to physically connect the building to local utility infrastructures.
Since a NUFORS can be unable to regularly acquire and dispose of utility-based resources through mostly constant physical connections, the NUFORS can make periodic connections to land-portals as described above, either mooring and/or using a tender. One way to minimize the frequency of such transfers and the volume of resources transferred to and from a NUFORS can be to acquire and dispose of such resources onboard the NUFORS.
Waste disposal can be minimized by using environmental-friendly waste technologies (such as volume minimizing toilets, and filtering systems for shower water). For example, Sancor Industries sells the Envirolet Waterless Composting toilet system, a mostly waterless toilet system that uses minimal amounts of water and requires minimal amounts of storage for the composted wastes. Similar technology can be used for shower and sink wastewater treatment, and compacting machines can be used to minimize the amount of space needed to store other wastes such as glass/plastic containers, etc.

6.6.10 Navigation System and Energy Management System Control

The NUFORS navigation system initially can be programmed with daily, weekly and monthly navigation routes based on the above constraints, plans which can be used manually by one of more human pilots, and/or by automated (autopilot) navigation control systems. Any random incidents can be handled with route reprogramming. The navigation system can interface either with one or more onboard engines to control movement of the NUFORS, or can interface with the navigational system of a second vessel (such as a tugboat) that is pushing or pulling a NUFORS.
A variety of navigation systems can be used to navigate a NUFORS, for example, systems incorporating technology found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,826,478 (“Inertial navigation system for mobile objects with constraints”), U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,113 (“Navigation method for a means of transport”), U.S. Pat. No. 6,567,743 (“Method and device for determining a route from a starting location to a final destination”), U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,665 (“Method and apparatus for control of vessel maneuvering”), U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,644 (“Processing for monitoring ship traffic at sea while recognizing oil spills and potential ship collisions”), U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,287 (“Navigation display apparatus for collision avoidance utilizing polygonal safety regions and predicted danger areas”), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,341 (“System for sea navigation or traffic control/assistance”).
Standardized software packages, and/or their circuit equivalents, can be used as part of the navigation system for a NUFORS. For example, VNS MAX Pro (www.nobeltec.com) is a visual navigation system that includes the following properties: real time vessel positioning, quilting for seamless chart integration, distance and bearing to active mark/route/target, unlimited route and waypoint placement, GPS upload/download, auto-pilot support and other features. Garmin Ltd. (www.garmin.com) offers a variety of hardware and software systems for marine radar, traffic monitoring, autopiloting, sonar and other navigation-related equipment that can be used as part of the navigation system for a NUFORS.
A variety of exemplary daily navigational routes are disclosed herein, typically as sets of latitude and longitude coordinates; or sets of latitudes and longitude coordinates and start/stop or duration times. Such exemplary coordinates and time points are approximate. For example, if section of a navigational route is starts at 12 PM, the section can be started at 12:05 PM with the vessel being navigated slightly faster to reach the next section around its starting time. Computer programs such as GPSBabel (www.gpsbabel.org) can be used to convert the latitude/longitude/timing navigation routes disclosed herein into data files that can be used by a plurality of commercial navigation and autopilot systems. GPX (the GPS Exchange Format) can also be used to represent the latitude/longitude/timing data disclosed herein for interchange between navigational software systems.
The energy management system can either be a separate hardware/software apparatus exchanging navigational information with the navigation system, or the energy management system can be a sub-system within the navigation system. In either case, for example, the energy management system can comprise one or more computer programs and databases that uses time, location and fuel status information provided by the navigation system to determine minimal energy navigational routes that are communicated to the navigation system.
Further, the exemplary navigational systems(s) and/or energy management system(s) may include or be implemented by one or more computing systems, which may in turn include, for example, a processor, memory, storage, and input/output devices (e.g., monitor, keyboard, disk drive, Internet connection, etc.) Such computing system(s) may include circuitry or other specialized hardware for carrying out some or all aspects of the processes. In some operational settings, computing system(s) may be configured as a system that includes one or more units, each of which is configured to carry out some aspects of the processes in either software, hardware, or some combinations thereof.
Additionally, a computer-readable medium can be used to store (e.g., tangibly embody) one or more computer programs for performing any one of the above-described processes by means of a computer. The one or more computer programs may be written, for example, in a general-purpose programming language (e.g., C, Java, Ada, Lisp) or some specialized application-specific language. The one or more computer programs may be compiled for execution on a processor, or for being loaded into programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

8. CONCLUSION

The above description of the embodiments, alternative embodiments, and specific examples, are given by way of illustration and are not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Additionally, although a feature may appear to be described in connection with a particular embodiment, one skilled in the art will recognize that various features of the described embodiments can be combined in accordance with the invention. Moreover, aspects of the invention describe in connection with an embodiment may stand alone as an invention. Moreover, it will be appreciated that various modifications and alterations can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details and embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the claims along with their full scope of equivalents.
The term “comprising” as used herein is synonymous with “including”, “containing”, or “characterized by”, and is inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, un-recited elements or method steps.

Claims

1. A navigated structure with residences for independent parties, comprising:

a) a first vessel operable to be navigated in the waterways of a single urban region;

b) at least one navigation system operable to control movement of said first vessel along at least one route through said waterways, said first vessel being moved for most days of a year,

c) at least one energy management system operable to determine at least one navigational route for use by said navigation system to control movement of said first vessel, said navigational route including coordinates of at least one anchorage area, said first vessel being moved for a plurality of hours for said days of a year in which said first vessel is moved;

d) at least two residential structures supported by said first vessel, said residential structures occupied by independent parties, said residential structures separate or coupled; and

e) at least one second vessel detachably coupled to said first vessel, for transporting during any days of the year, at least one member of at least one said independent parties to or from one or more land-based portals within said urban region.