A towed vessel suitable for containing and transporting various liquids is disclosed. The vessel further comprises various features useful in the transportation, navigation, and storage of the towable vessel, both when in use for transporting fluids and when transported in an emptied state. Such features include navigational and positioning devices and methods, power supply devices and methods, and means for filling, inflating, emptying, and deflating a non-rigid, towed vessel. Aspects of embodiments of the present invention further include features useful for purifying or preserving the purity of the fluid to be transported.

In an apparatus installed on a boat (A) in plural boats including (A, B) for avoiding collision with the boat (B), there are equipped with first and second radio-wave transceiver units installed at spaced positions that transmit to and receive radio waves of a predetermined frequency from the boat (B), and first and distance calculating units that calculate clearance distances from the boat (B) based on attenuation degree of the radio waves transmitted from the boat (B). An intersection point of circles whose origins in an x-y coordinate plane are set to positions corresponding to the first and second positions and whose radii are set to values corresponding to the calculated clearance distances. Direction and position of the boat (B) are estimated from the intersection point, and an instruction necessary for avoiding collision with the boat (B) is issued based on the estimated direction and position.

A port monitoring system including: a port environment detection unit in which it is important to monitor the accurate position and posture of ships, especially large ships, in a port (or harbor), and which monitors the position and status of fenders in the port, and measures the environmental conditions of the port and thus generates port environment information to integrally manage ships and fenders in order to efficiently manage the port; a ship monitoring unit which is included in a ship and generates ship information of the ship; a fender monitoring unit which is included in a fender and generates fender information of the fender; a network; and a port management unit.

A planing boat sailing assisting device includes a sensor and a data processing apparatus mounted on a planing boat. The sensor is configured to obtain not reflected light of laser light applied to a water surface but natural visible light or infrared light coming from the water surface obliquely below the sensor, by using a global shutter. The data processing apparatus obtains data obtained by the sensor, at a frame rate of not lower than FPS and not higher than 100 FPS, and generates wave data related at least to a height of a wave and a time until arrival of the wave based on sets of data obtained by the sensor, at least once every second. The data processing apparatus outputs the generated wave data to at least one of a wave display or a controller.

An unmanned seismic vessel system can include a hull system configured to provide buoyancy and a storage apparatus configured for storing one or more seismic nodes, each seismic node having at least one seismic sensor configured to acquire seismic data. A deployment system can be configured for deploying the seismic nodes from the storage apparatus to the water column, where the seismic data are responsive to a seismic wavefield, with a controller configured to operate the deployment system so that the seismic nodes are automatically deployed in a seismic array.

A towed vessel suitable for containing and transporting various liquids is disclosed. The vessel further comprises various features useful in the transportation, navigation, and storage of the towable vessel, both when in use for transporting fluids and when transported in an emptied state. Such features include navigational and positioning devices and methods, power supply devices and methods, and means for filling, inflating, emptying, and deflating a non-rigid, towed vessel. Aspects of embodiments of the present invention further include features useful for purifying or preserving the purity of the fluid to be transported.

Artificial-intelligence-based river information system. In an embodiment, a first training dataset is used to train a travel time prediction model to predict a travel time along the waterway for a given trip. In addition, a second training dataset is used to train a river level prediction model to predict a river level along the waterway for a given time. For each of a plurality of trips, a request is received that specifies the trip and a time of the trip, and, in response to the request, the travel time prediction model is used to predict a travel time for the trip, and the river level prediction model is used to predict a river level of the waterway at one or more points along the trip. Then, a voyage plan is generated based on one or both of the predicted travel time and the predicted river level.

In an apparatus installed on a boat (A) in plural boats including (A, B) for avoiding collision with the boat (B), there are equipped with first and second radio-wave transceiver units installed at spaced positions that transmit to and receive radio waves of a predetermined frequency from the boat (B), and first and distance calculating units that calculate clearance distances from the boat (B) based on attenuation degree of the radio waves transmitted from the boat (B). An intersection point of circles whose origins in an x-y coordinate plane are set to positions corresponding to the first and second positions and whose radii are set to values corresponding to the calculated clearance distances. Direction and position of the boat (B) are estimated from the intersection point, and an instruction necessary for avoiding collision with the boat (B) is issued based on the estimated direction and position.

An unmanned seismic vessel system can include a hull system configured to provide buoyancy and a storage apparatus configured for storing one or more seismic nodes, each seismic node having at least one seismic sensor configured to acquire seismic data. A deployment system can be configured for deploying the seismic nodes from the storage apparatus to the water column, where the seismic data are responsive to a seismic wavefield, with a controller configured to operate the deployment system so that the seismic nodes are automatically deployed in a seismic array.

Systems, methods, and computer program products for controlling a marine surface vessel. Nominal position and nominal heading signals are received from a trajectory planner, and nominal force and nominal moment signals generated based thereon. A velocity tracking error signal is generated based on the sensed velocity signal, and a yaw rate tracking error signal is generated based on the sensed yaw rate signal. A force tracking error control signal is generated based on the velocity tracking error signal, and a moment tracking error control signal is generated based on the yaw rate tracking error signal. A force command signal is generated by summing the nominal force and force tracking error control signals, and a moment command signal is generated by summing the nominal moment and moment tracking error control signals. The force and moment command signals are used to control one or more actuators of the marine surface vessel.