Ship Route Planning Using Preferred Navigable Area Costs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ship navigation devices fail to create routes that consider the ambiguity of human thinking, often resulting in routes that unnecessarily avoid navigable areas near land or pass through areas users wish to avoid, such as fisheries, due to their inability to account for user preferences and route length effectively.
Innovation Solution
The navigation device differentiates between first and second navigable areas based on user preferences, prioritizing routes through areas users want to travel through while avoiding areas they wish to bypass, using a cost evaluation system that considers water depth and distance to innavigable areas to create more efficient routes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the navigation device creates a route avoiding all innavigable areas, then the ship can travel safely, but the route may unnecessarily avoid navigable areas near land that users wish to pass through
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments navigable areas into two categories: first navigable areas (preferred, farther from land) and second navigable areas (less preferred, near land). This segmentation allows the route search to prioritize safer areas while still permitting passage through near-land areas when necessary, resolving the contradiction between safety and route efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different cost values to different navigable areas based on their characteristics. First navigable areas have lower cost values (preferred), while second navigable areas have higher cost values (less preferred). This local differentiation allows the A* algorithm to naturally balance safety and efficiency by selecting routes that minimize total cost while still passing through necessary near-land areas.
2Ease of operation
If the navigation device prioritizes routes through first navigable areas, then the route passes through preferred areas even if longer, but this increases the total route length
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the cost parameter in the A* algorithm based on the type of navigable area. By assigning different cost values to first and second navigable areas, the algorithm can balance user preference for preferred areas with the need for route efficiency, automatically finding optimal routes that consider both factors.
3Device complexity
If the navigation device uses a simple binary navigable area classification, then the processing is simple, but it cannot capture the ambiguity of human thinking regarding route preferences
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments navigable areas into first and second categories based on distance to innavigable areas. This segmentation provides a nuanced classification system that captures human preferences (avoiding land areas when possible) while maintaining relatively simple processing through clear geometric criteria and cost assignments.
Data Source
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AI summary
A navigation device (1) is provided, which may include an acquiring module (31) and a route creating module (32). The acquiring module (31) may acquire at least a departing location, a destination location and nautical chart information to be used for creating a traveling route for a ship. When a given navigable area is divided into a first navigable area and a second navigable area based on a given condition, the route creating module (32) may create a route being shorter in total distance and taking priority in passing the first navigable area than the second navigable area, based on the departing location, the destination location, and the nautical chart information.