Marine Vessel Propulsion Control for Seabed Grounding Avoidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Despite modern navigation systems, marine vessel groundings remain a frequent accident type, primarily caused by human errors, leading to injuries, structural damage, and financial losses, as existing technologies fail to effectively prevent vessels from running aground on reefs, shores, and shallow waters.
Innovation Solution
A computerized system and method that uses a controller to receive vessel position, geographical data, and meteorological information to determine a safety zone ahead, identify critical seabed depths, and adjust the propelling unit's state by reducing speed, disengaging the engine, activating dynamic positioning, or changing course to prevent grounding, while dynamically updating safety margins and considering vessel properties and weather conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If modern navigation systems and electronic charts are used, then navigation information availability is improved, but human errors such as lookout errors and analysis errors still occur leading to groundings
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables the vessel to monitor and control its own grounding risk automatically. The controller continuously receives vessel position, calculates safety zones, identifies critical seabed depths, and autonomously determines grounding risk without requiring constant human intervention or interpretation of electronic charts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides real-time feedback to the controller about vessel position relative to safety zones and critical seabed depths. This continuous feedback loop allows the system to dynamically adjust grounding risk assessment and alert the operator only when actual danger is detected, rather than requiring continuous human monitoring of navigation systems.
2Reliability
If safety zones and critical seabed depth monitoring are implemented in real-time, then grounding prevention capability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and establishes safety zones based on vessel draft and predetermined safety depths before the vessel reaches dangerous areas. By preparing safety zones in advance and continuously updating them as the vessel moves, the system simplifies real-time decision-making without requiring complex dynamic calculations during critical moments.
Solution Approach 2:
The system focuses computational resources on identifying and monitoring only the critical seabed depths within the specific safety zone ahead of the vessel, rather than analyzing the entire seabed map. This localized approach reduces computational complexity while maintaining high reliability for grounding prevention in the immediate threat area.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the invention may be related to a computer system and a computerized method of controlling a marine vessel. Embodiments may include: receiving, by a controller, a position of the marine vessel from a positioning system; receiving, by the controller, geographical data, from at least one database, the geographical data may include at least a map of seabed depths; receiving, by the controller, a heading direction and speed of the marine vessel; calculating, by the controller, a safety zone ahead of the marine vessel based on the position, the heading direction and the speed of the marine vessel; identifying a location of a critical seabed depth inside the safety zone based on the received, the geographical data; and changing, by the controller, a state of a propelling unit of the marine vessel when a critical seabed depth was identified inside the safety zone.