Technical Automation Tools for High-Precision Navigating of Sea and River Ships

The paper describes an approach to automating the process of navigating sea and river ships using a set of technical tools for high-precision navigating. The set is built on the basis of two reference points technology and allows controlling the position of the ship’s hull with the accuracy necessary for navigating the ship in cramped conditions and with limited visibility. Technology of two reference points - is a technology for high-precision definition of navigation elements - fore and aft vectors of the ship speed, the pivot point of the ship, distances and speeds of convergence of the ship’s hull to navigation hazards, traffic lanes of the ship. The technology consists of three segments: sea, coastal and ship. The sea segment is an automatic water area hydrometeorological monitoring system, coastal segment – is a monitoring system of mooring operations, ship segment - is a set of technical means of high-precision navigating. The set includes a wearable pilot tablet with software for displaying electronic navigation maps and two transponders (two reference points). The set processes data from the global navigation satellite system and the inertial navigation system, as well as from two sets of three-axis microelectromechanical sensors (accelerometer, magnetometer, fiber-optic gyrocompass and altimeter) that are part of the transponders. The set provides data for displaying the current navigation situation on approaches, in the immediate vicinity of the cargo terminal, on certain sections of traffic in port waters and river basins when performing pilotage and mooring tasks.