The maritime traffic system is an essential basis for the economic development, competitiveness, and prosperity for Germany as well as Europe. The world seaborne trade continued to grow in 2011 with 4% and achieved a total transport volume of goods in the order of 8.7 billion tons. The worldwide fleet reached more than 1.5 billion deadweight tons in January 2012 representing an increase of over 37 percent in just four years. New container ships delivered in 2011 were 34% larger than those delivered throughout 2010. In the future an efficient and safe realization of overall transport processes must also be ensured under increasing traffic densities and with heavy navigating vessels. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) implemented “e-navigation” as a world-wide development program with the objective for “Safe, secure and efficient seafaring on clean oceans”. E-Navigation stands for the harmonized collection, integration, exchange, presentation and analysis of marine information on board and ashore by electronic means and is intended to meet present and future user needs through global harmonization and enhancement of marine systems, components, and services (see Fig. 1).
A technical challenge for both systems consists in the stepwise introduction and implementation of data and system integrity. In this context integrity is considered as a classical safety goal describing either the correctness and completeness of data products or the correct and complete realization of system tasks in relation to their technical specifications. The term “integrity” is associated with the user need on information in real time describing the current usability of nautical components and services or provided navigational data. Data integrity is given, if the data is delivered at the expected time interval, is provided in the specified formats, and fulfills the specific accuracy requirements. The integrity of a technical system is achieved, if the system is able to fulfill all specified tasks in a timely, complete, unambiguous and accurate manner. For the provision of integrity information the maritime traffic system has to be enriched with suitable integrity monitoring functionalities realizing the assessment of data as well as system integrity in real time. Therefore the development of sensor-specific error models and task-orientated integrity monitoring functionalities for the maritime PNT and TSA system including their experimental validation are intended as overarching project objectives. From this results the following sub-developments:
Maritime PNT System
The generic architecture of the maritime PNT system developed during the definition phase in cooperation with international bodies is shown in Fig. 3. The “Integrated PNT System” specifies the required overlay of satellite based, ashore and aboard components, whose integrated use ensure the accurate and reliable provision of ships’ position, navigation, and time (PNT) data and assigned integrity data (PNT system and data integrity) to applications during all phases of vessel navigation. Shore-side augmentation services are needed to enable higher positions accuracies in high traffic density areas such as coast and ports and to support the integrity assessment of used GNSS (Global Satellite Navigation Systems) and provided augmentation data (for DGNSS). In the frame of the MTE project the experimental MGBAS (Maritime Ground Based Augmentation Services) in the Research Port Rostock will be enlarged to provide multi-GNSS and multi-carrier based DGNSS services with autonomous integrity monitoring in position and signal domain. Additional integrity monitoring functionalities are foreseen to enable on the one hand the development of error models needed for the overarching integrity concept and to support on the other hand the investigation of approaches for the provision of PNT-relevant Maritime Safety Information (MSI). During the berth-to-berth journey on board of vessels various nautical tasks with different accuracy and integrity requirements on PNT data must be executed even though at the same time the availability of usable services, signals and components is changed.Our vision is a resilient and user-friendly PNT Unit providing the best output data by a self-monitoring of PNT relevant data sources and an adaptive selection of applicable techniques for PNT data determination and provision. At end of project a first PNT Unit shall be demonstrated which is able to detect and bridge short-term disturbances and losses of GNSS.
Traffic Surveying and Assessment
The surveying of traffic situation and the assessment regarding its current accident risk is a safety-critical task, which has to be realized during all phases of vessel navigation (e.g. at open sea, harbour approach, docking manoeuvre etc.). Requirements on traffic surveying are ambitious in areas with higher traffic densities and reduced manoeuvre space. In such cases the monitoring of traffic situation and changing can be supported by Vessel Traffic Services (VTS). A comprehensive and reliable description of traffic situation is necessary for a coordinated management of the traffic and a cooperative break-up of hazards. An effective and faultless decision finding in this context requires that traffic participants as well as traffic manager are provided with identical traffic situation images. Traffic situation images can be derived from radar data or ships’ PNT data likewise. The access to PNT data of other traffic participants is enabled by the Automatic Identification System (AIS). The availability of independent and complementary data sources establishes the required redundancy, on whose based on suitable data fusion techniques the completeness as well as validity of traffic situation images can be assessed. The provision and experimental evaluation of such techniques operating in real time represents a further project objective. Assigned research and development activities are focussed on the provision of suitable algorithm realizing the error management from detection of single errors up to estimation of residual errors in provided data products describing traffic situation and changes (see Fig. 4).
Support: internal project
Duration: 2010-2013
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