Vessel Operator Assistance via Historical Data Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vessel operators face challenges in quickly catching up on important information during long voyages, especially when returning to the bridge after being away, and in making informed decisions in unfamiliar or uncertain navigation situations.
Innovation Solution
An operator assisting device that obtains and matches current weather and traffic data with historical data from previous passages with similar conditions, allowing the operator to display and replay previous vessel movements and operations data to inform current navigation decisions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the officer is allowed to be hands-off and eyes-off during long voyages, then productivity and ease of operation are improved, but the officer's situational awareness deteriorates when returning to the bridge
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically collecting, storing, and indexing navigation data, weather information, and traffic data before the officer needs to return to the bridge. The data is pre-processed and organized in a database, so when the officer returns, the information is ready for immediate retrieval and display, eliminating the need for manual data collection and reducing the time required to catch up on situational awareness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback to the officer by displaying summarized navigation status, weather conditions, and traffic information on the bridge display device. This feedback mechanism allows the officer to quickly understand the current situation without needing to review all raw data, thereby maintaining situational awareness while enabling hands-off operation during voyages.
2Device complexity
If officers rely on their own estimations in unfamiliar situations, then device complexity is reduced, but decision-making quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary layer between the officer and the complex navigation environment. The database and display device act as intermediaries that collect, store, and present relevant information in a structured manner. This intermediary system processes complex data into actionable insights, supporting the officer's decision-making without requiring the officer to manually analyze all available information, thus improving decision-making quality while keeping the interface simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates copies of historical navigation data, weather patterns, and traffic information that can be reviewed and analyzed. By storing and displaying historical data as references, the system provides officers with examples of similar situations and their outcomes, enabling more informed decision-making in unfamiliar situations without adding complex real-time analysis tools.
3Reliability
If historical data is collected and stored for analysis, then decision-making quality is improved, but device complexity and data management burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and separates essential navigation data, weather information, and traffic data into distinct database tables and structures. By organizing data into separate categories with specific fields and types, the system makes data management more efficient and less complex. The extraction of critical information allows for targeted retrieval and display only when needed, reducing the burden on the data management system while maintaining high decision-making quality.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for assisting an operator of a vessel, an operator assisting device and a vessel comprising such an operator assisting device. The device obtains (S100) a current position of the vessel during a current passage along a route, obtains (S110, S120) weather data and traffic data at the current position; obtains (S130) data about a previous passage of the vessel along the route, which previous passage is a passage having a first previous position along the route that corresponds to the current position, for which first previous position the route has the same or similar weather conditions as weather conditions of the obtained weather data and has the same or similar traffic conditions as traffic conditions of the obtained traffic data; and displays (S140) the vessel at the first previous position of the previous passage together with the traffic conditions of this passage.