Drone-Assisted Mooring Position Detection for Marine Vessel Docking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Marine vessels face challenges in finding suitable mooring positions within crowded harbors or ports, where obstacles and varying vessel sizes complicate navigation, leading to stressful and time-consuming docking processes.
Innovation Solution
An unmanned aircraft system equipped with an image capturing unit and controller transmits wireless control signals to a marine vessel's control system, providing real-time data on mooring position dimensions, allowing for quick identification and selection of suitable docking areas, and enabling autonomous or operator-assisted navigation for precise docking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the marine vessel enters a crowded harbor to find a mooring position, then the vessel can access potential docking areas, but the navigation becomes difficult and stressful due to obstacles and other vessels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an aerial dimension by deploying an unmanned aircraft to capture images of the harbor from above. This top-down perspective provides a new dimensional view of the environment, allowing the system to identify mooring positions and obstacles that are difficult to perceive from the water level, thereby easing navigation in crowded harbors.
Solution Approach 2:
The unmanned aircraft acts as an intermediary between the marine vessel and the harbor environment. It captures images and transmits them to the control system, which processes the data to identify suitable mooring positions. This intermediary system relieves the operator from directly navigating through the stressful crowded environment while still providing access to potential docking areas.
2Productivity
If the operator manually searches for a suitable mooring position in a crowded harbor, then the vessel can dock, but the process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by having the unmanned aircraft capture images of the harbor and the control system process these images to identify suitable mooring positions before the vessel arrives. This advance preparation allows the operator to receive pre-processed information about available docking areas, significantly reducing the time needed to find a mooring position when the vessel reaches the harbor.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical search process with an automated optical and computational system. Instead of the operator visually scanning the harbor from the vessel, an unmanned aircraft with image capturing devices automatically surveys the area, and a control system with image processing algorithms automatically identifies suitable mooring positions, thereby increasing docking efficiency and reducing time loss.
3Reliability
If the vessel enters the harbor to find a mooring position, then docking is possible, but stressful situations easily occur in the crowded environment
Solution Approach 1:
The unmanned aircraft and control system serve as an intermediary that reduces the operator's direct exposure to stressful situations in the crowded harbor. By providing processed image data and identified mooring positions, this intermediary system enables the operator to make safer docking decisions without the psychological stress of directly navigating through tight spaces with other vessels and obstacles.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides continuous feedback to the operator through transmitted images and processed information about the harbor environment and available mooring positions. This feedback loop allows the operator to assess the situation remotely, plan the approach, and execute docking maneuvers with greater confidence and safety, reducing the occurrence of stressful situations caused by uncertain or rapidly changing environmental conditions.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure relates to an unmanned aircraft system (100) of an unmanned aircraft (1000), a control system (200) arranged on a marine vessel (2000), as well as a method for controlling a navigation system of a marine vessel. The present disclosure enables improved operation of the marine vessel (2000) in docking situations at a mooring position.