Evolutionary trajectory planning of ships in navigation traffic areas

By taking into account certain boundaries of the maneuvering region, along with navigation obstacles and other moving ships, the problem of avoiding collisions in navigation traffic areas was reduced to a dynamic optimization task with static and dynamic constraints. In heavy navigation traffic areas and within coastal zones, correct selection of a ship's speed, when accompanied by the necessary trajectory changes, is a crucial element of safe navigation. This paper presents a modernized version of the evolutionary ship trajectory planning system in which a new parameter was introduced, namely changes of the ship's speed along particular sections of the trajectory. Generally, a safe trajectory is estimated using specialized genetic operators for modifying the trajectory. Here, an additional operator was added to the system that mutates the ship's speed. Sample results present the safe trajectory for a ferry meeting other moving ships and navigational constraints on its way. Received for publication on Dec. 2, 1998; accepted on June 16, 1999