The present disclosure includes a radar configured to detect surrounding objects and terrain, and a LIDAR configured to detect the surrounding objects and terrain using a narrower detection range and a higher resolution than the radar. The disclosure also includes a first map, such as a wide-area map, generated based on information about the surrounding as detected by the radar, a second map, such as a high-resolution map, based on information about the surroundings as detected by the LIDAR, and a composite map that has the grid width of the first map and the grid width of the second map.

A method of automatically moving, by an automatic location placement system, a marine vessel includes receiving, by a central processing unit, from a vision ranging photography system, at least one optical feed including data providing a mapping of an environment surrounding a marine vessel. The method includes displaying, by the central processing unit, on a touch screen monitor, the mapping of the environment. The method includes receiving, by the central processing unit, from the touch screen monitor, target location data. The method includes directing, by the central processing unit, at least one element of a propulsion system of the marine vessel, to move the marine vessel to the targeted location, using the mapping.

Systems and methods for generating a phase-resolved ocean wave forecast with ensemble based data assimilation are disclosed. An example method includes receiving radar data corresponding to an ocean surface, and determining a surface elevation and a surface potential of a portion of the ocean surface. The example method also includes generating an ensemble of perturbed ocean surface data, and applying a phase-resolved nonlinear wave model to the ensemble of perturbed ocean surface data to generate a set of forecast ocean surface data. The example method also includes receiving a subsequent set of radar data corresponding to the ocean surface, and determining a subsequent surface elevation and surface potential of the portion of the ocean surface. The example method also includes combining, by applying an ensemble Kalman filter, the set of forecast ocean surface data with the subsequent surface elevation and surface potential to generate a phase-resolved ocean wave forecast.

A method including operating vehicles through a medium. The vehicles are subject to advection due to movement of the medium. The vehicles are in sufficient proximity to each other that one or more conditions of the medium are about equivalent for the vehicles. The method also includes applying an incremental sequence of about equivalent thrust forces to the plurality of vehicles to generate about equivalent incremental changes in a plurality of steady-state average drag forces for the plurality of vehicles. The method also includes measuring a plurality of speed changes for the plurality of vehicles. The method also includes calculating, from the plurality of speed changes, a plurality of relative speed performance statistics for relative speed performance between pairs of vehicles, wherein calculating is performed independently of the one or more conditions of the medium.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for identifying a paddle region. One of these method includes generating a map of a paddle region for a paddler of an aquatic device based on weather, nautical conditions, experience level of the paddler, and the duration of the trip; and presenting the map to the user on a computer device.

A touch screen may be utilized by a marine electronic device to easily enter a route in relation to a chart. The marine electronic device may automatically determine and join geographic points associated with the chart to generate a route based on a touch pattern. The marine electronic device may be configured to complete the route to form a route loop in instances in which the start and end of the touch pattern are within a predetermined distance. The completion of the route may be accomplished by connecting the end point to the start point or by “snapping” the end point to the start point, e.g. shifting the end point to the start point. Additionally or alternatively, a user may use pre-determined route snippets to quickly and easily alter a route.

A marine navigation device comprises a location determining element, a display, a memory element, and a processing element. The location determining element determines a current geolocation of a marine vessel on a first body of water. The display displays a map representation. The memory element stores digital elevation model data and sonar data for a plurality of bodies of water. The processing element is in communication with the memory element and is configured to select the digital elevation model data or the sonar data from the memory element corresponding to the first body of water, calculate contour line data, the contour line data determining a plurality of contour lines, update the contour line data by selectively removing at least a portion of the contour lines, and generate a map representation including contour lines derived from the updated contour line data, and control the display to visually present the map representation.

Disclosed is a dynamic collision avoidance method for an unmanned surface vessel based on route replanning. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring navigation information and pose information of a neighboring ship of an unmanned vessel itself via a vessel-borne sensor; constructing a collision cone between the unmanned vessel and the neighboring ship; introducing a degree of uncertainty with respect to observing movement information of the neighboring ship and applying a layer of soft constraint to the collision cone; applying a speed and a heading limit range of the unmanned vessel; acquiring an ultimate candidate speed set; introducing a cost function to select an optimum collision avoidance speed; and performing an internal recycle of navigation simulation with the optimum collision avoidance speed to obtain a route replanning point for dynamic collision avoidance of the unmanned vessel. According to the present invention, a dynamic collision avoidance strategy of the unmanned surface vessel is output in form of route replanning to meet constraints of international regulations for preventing collisions at sea, and it is well adapted to manipulate and control the unmanned vessel itself, so that a dynamic collision avoidance requirement of the unmanned vessel is met.

The present invention provides an automatic guiding method of a vessel capable of controlling a deviation from the scheduled route/course to a value less than a constant value even if there is disturbance without necessitating a great amount of calculations, an automatic guiding program of a vessel, an automatic guiding system of a vessel and a vessel. An automatic guiding method of a vessel using an automatic sailing device which at least automatically steers of the vessel underway includes a scheduled route/course producing process S1 for acquiring or calculating the scheduled route/course, the vessel information acquiring process S3 for acquiring a position of the vessel and a heading, a pure pursuit calculation process S4 for calculating a target point or an orientation of the target point which satisfies a predetermined condition on the scheduled route/course in an ongoing direction of the vessel based on the position and a heading, an automatic sailing calculation process S5 for calculating a steering/rudder angle of the vessel based on the target point or the orientation and the position or the heading, and controlling process S6 for controlling the automatic sailing device based on the calculated steering/rudder angle.

An electronic map display device is provided. The device acquires electronic maps and displays the electronic maps, each electronic map being acquired per acquisition unit. The electronic map display device may include a map information display determiner for determining whether the electronic map is currently available per acquisition unit, and a map information display interface for displaying information relating to the electronic map per the acquisition unit depending on whether the electronic map is currently available. The map information display interface varies the exterior edge of each of the electronic maps depending on the status of the electronic map.