Ship-collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display

Abstract

A ship-collision prevention system and method for preventing a collision between ships at sea including a ship-collision avoidance guiding system using a time series graphic display, and guiding system displays, in a time series graph, depicting changes in relative distance according to time with respect to respective ships and obstacles on the basis of information provided from an electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and a radar system, wherein, whether other ships are on portside or starboard is displayed on the basis of radar information, and a notification through an alarm or the like if a distance to a specific ship has matched a predetermined threshold value or less, and effectively preventing a collision between ships at sea, and simultaneously, enabling a simulation for a crossing event and avoidance by inputting a random value.

Claims

1. A ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display, the system comprising: a crossing and avoidance information providing unit configured to process a representation of a relative positional relationship with respect an own ship to ships and obstacles at sea within a predetermined range and collision possibility in a time series graph; a display configured to display information generated through the crossing and avoidance information providing unit; an alarm generating unit configured to transmit a notification for avoidance based on the information provided by the crossing and avoidance information providing unit; a communication unit configured to communicate with external equipment and other ships; and a control unit configured to control an overall operation and function of the ship collision avoidance guiding system, wherein changes in a relative distance according to a time with respect to respective ships and obstacles are represented through a time series graph and a left and right positional relationship of the respective ships is displayed to identify positions of the ships and obstacles, a crossing time, and whether the ship is to be avoided, wherein the crossing and avoidance information providing unit is configured to process a representation of the relative positional relationship based on information provided from an electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and a radar system, wherein the crossing and avoidance information providing unit is configured to process changes in the relative position of the ships and obstacles according to time as a graph to be displayed and the displayed navigation information includes a relative bearing angle of the other ship with respect to the own ship at a close point and a closest point, a traveling direction, a close distance, a closing time and a collision limit line representing a threshold value for avoidance, the collision limit line and displaying a left and right positional relationship between the respective ships using radar information to identify a ship having an obligation to keep out of the way, wherein the display is configured to display the left and right positional relationship between the ships with English characters L and R or using at least one of a color of the graph, a character, and a symbol, and wherein when a graph for a specific ship or obstacle is located below the collision limit line, it is determined that there is a collision risk with the ship or obstacle based on a result generated by the crossing and avoidance information providing unit, when a ship determined to have the collision risk is located on the left, avoidance is notified to the ship located on the left through the alarm generating unit and the communication unit, and when the ship determined to have a collision risk is located on the right, a processing of generating an avoidance warning to own ship is automatically performed by the alarm generating unit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the ship collision avoidance guiding system is configured to perform a processing of automatically notifying avoidance to all ships having the collision risk when it is determined that there is the collision risk.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein when a number of ships or obstacles to be displayed exceed a predetermined range, the ship collision avoidance guiding system is configured to selectively display only a graph for ships or obstacles corresponding to a criteria based on a predetermined criteria or enlarge or reduce the graph to increase legibility.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the crossing and avoidance information providing unit is configured to reconfigure the relative positional relationship and collision possibility for the ship and the obstacles according to the navigation information input to create the graph and display the graph through the display so that when an avoidance route is determined, whether to collide is determined through a simulation for a crossing event and avoidance to effectively prevent collision between ships and collision between a ship and an obstacle.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the ship collision avoidance guiding system is configured by installing a dedicated program or processing module configured to display the graph in an existing ship navigation guiding system or ship collision preventing the system to be easily implemented at a law-east without configuring a separate hardware.

6. A ship collision avoidance guiding method using time series graphic display the method comprising: processing a representation of a relative positional relationship with respect an own ship to ships and obstacles at sea within a predetermined range and collision possibility in a time series graph, the processing the representation of the relative positional relationship is based on information provided from an electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and a radar system; displaying the representation of the relative positional relationship; transmitting a notification for avoidance based on the representation of the relative positional relationship; communicating with external equipment and other ships; controlling an overall operation and function of a ship collision avoidance guiding system; processing changes in a relative distance according to a time with respect to respective ships and obstacles; representing changes in the relative distance of the ships and obstacles through a time series graph and a left and right positional relationship of the respective ships; displaying the relative distance of the ships and obstacles to identify positions of the ships and obstacles, a crossing time, and whether the ship is to be avoided, the displaying the relative distance including displaying the left and right positional relationship between the ships with English characters L and R or using at least one of a color of the graph, a character, and a symbol wherein the processing changes in the relative position of the ships and obstacles according to time includes processing as the relative position as a graph to be displayed and the navigation information to be displayed includes a relative bearing angle of the other ship with respect to the own ship at a close point and a closest point, a traveling direction, a close distance, a closing time and a collision limit line representing a threshold value for avoidance, the collision limit line and displaying a left and right positional relationship between the respective ships using radar information to identify a ship having an obligation to keep out of the way, and wherein the processing a representation of the relative positional relationship includes determining that there is a collision risk with the ship or obstacle when a graph for a specific ship or obstacle is located below the collision limit line, notifying a ship located on the left when the ship located on the left is determined to have the collision risk, and generating an avoidance warning to own ship when the ship determined to have the collision risk is located on the right.

7. A ship which is configured to include the ship collision avoidance guiding system using a time series graphic display of claim 1.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating a display example of an electronic navigation chart screen displayed on an electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) of the related art.

(2) FIG. 2 is a view schematically illustrating a display example of an electronic navigation chart screen displayed on an electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) of the related art.

(3) FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating a display example of a time series interface display screen for collision avoidance of a ship which is displayed by a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 4 is a view schematically illustrating an overall configuration of a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE

(5) Hereinafter, a specific exemplary embodiment of a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(6) Here, it should be noted that the following description is merely one exemplary embodiment to carry out the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments which will be described below.

(7) Further, it should be noted that in the following description of the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined that a portion is the same as or similar to those of the related art or easily understood and carried out by those skilled in the art, detailed description thereof will be omitted for simplifying the description.

(8) That is, as it will be described below, the present invention relates to a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display which is configured to represent changes in a relative distance according to a time with respect to respective ships at sea within a predetermined range and obstacles in a time series graph and display a left and right positional relationship of each ship to easily identify the position of the ship nearby at sea and obstacles, a crossing time, and whether the ship is to be avoided at a glance to help to quickly and accurately judge the situation in order to solve the problems of a conventional electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and navigation systems using the same which have a disadvantage in that various pieces of information are simply enumerated on a screen, which causes complex and unintuitive screen display so that it is difficult to quickly identify desired information.

(9) Further, as it will be described below, in order to solve the problems of a conventional electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and navigation systems using the same which have a disadvantage in that various pieces of information are simply enumerated on a screen so that it is difficult to quickly identify desired information, the present invention relates to a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display which is configured to calculate changes in a relative distance according to a time with respect to respective ships and obstacles based on information provided from the electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) and a radar system to represent the changes in relative distance in a time series graph and, in the case of a ship, further display whether the ship is on portside or starboard on the basis of radar information, and when the distance from a specific ship is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, notify avoidance to the ship having the obligation to keep out of the way through an alarm, thereby identifying the position of the ship nearby at sea and the obstacles, a crossing time, and whether the ship is to be avoided and efficiently preventing the collision between ships at sea and the collision between a ship and an obstacle.

(10) Moreover, as it will be described below, the present invention relates to a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display which is configured to easily identify positions of ships at sea and obstacles, a crossing time, and whether the ship is to be avoided and effectively prevent collision, and enable simulation for a crossing event and avoidance by inputting an arbitrary value so that it is possible to quickly and accurately determine whether to avoid when a route for avoidance is planned in a short distance.

(11) Continuously, a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

(12) First, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, FIGS. 1 and 2 are views schematically illustrating a display example of an electronic chart screen displayed on the electronic navigation chart display and information system (ECDIS).

(13) As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the existing electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) are configured to display an electronic navigation chart on a screen and various information on a route and surrounding areas on the electronic navigation chart and also display, for example, navigation guidance information for preventing collision in consideration of a route and a speed of a ship nearby at sea on the screen, like CPA or a TCPA.

(14) Therefore, since in the case of display screens of the existing electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) and navigation systems using the same, various pieces of information are displayed on one screen to overlap each other, it is difficult for a navigation officer who needs to determine a route while watching the screen to intuitively check all information at a glance and thus it does not help to identify a ship which approaches at a short distance to determine a route for avoiding the collision so that it does not help when quick and accurate decision is required.

(15) Therefore, as it will be described below, the present inventors suggest a time series graphic interface display method configured to intuitively identify whether to collide with ships nearby at sea and a height of risk only at a glance by the contents displayed on a screen of a ship collision avoidance guiding system and present a ship collision avoidance guiding system configured to effectively prevent collision between ships and collision between a ship and a nearby obstacle using the same.

(16) That is, referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating a display example of a time series interface display screen for collision avoidance of a ship which is displayed by a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(17) As illustrated in FIG. 3, the time series interface display method for ship collision avoidance according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be configured to display changes in a relative distance with ships nearby at sea within a predetermined range and obstacles on a two-dimensional plane in which an X axis is a time and a Y axis is a distance in the form of graph.

(18) To be more specific, on the basis of information provided from the electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) or a radar system, as illustrated in FIG. 3, changes in a relative distance according to a time with respect to nearby ships and obstacles are displayed by a time series graph so that it is possible to easily identify how and when the respective ship or obstacle approaches or departs from the own ship and a bearing angle and a distance of the other ship at the closest moment at a glance.

(19) That is, in the graph illustrated in FIG. 3, a value on the X axis corresponds to a time t and a value on the Y axis corresponds to a distance d and the graph illustrated in FIG. 3 represents changes in a relative distance according to a time with respect to respective ships and obstacles.

(20) Here, in order to calculate changes in a relative distance with own ship according to a time with respect to respective ships and obstacles, a position and a speed at a present time of the ship or the obstacle provided by the electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and the radar system may be utilized.

(21) To be more specific, when it is represented using a concept of a vector operation, if it is assumed that a current position of the own ship is P.sub.own(0), a current position of the other ship or obstacle is P.sub.target(0), a current speed of the own ship is V.sub.own, and a current speed of the other ship or obstacle is V.sub.target, a relative position P(t) between the own ship and the other ship or obstacle after t seconds may be calculated by the following [Mathematical Formula 1].
P(t)={P.sub.target(0)P.sub.own(0)}+(V.sub.targetV.sub.own)t[Mathematical Formula 1]

(22) Further, when P(t) calculated using the above [Mathematical Formula 1] is utilized, the relative distance |P(t)| between the own ship and the other ship or obstacle after t seconds may be represented by the following [Mathematical Formula 2].
|P(t)|=|{P.sub.target(0)P.sub.own(0)}+(V.sub.targetV.sub.own)t|[Mathematical Formula 2]

(23) Accordingly, a value of (t, |P(t)|) is calculated using [Mathematical Formula 1] and [Mathematical Formula 2] so that changes in the relative distance according to a time with respect to the other ship or obstacle will be represented by a graph.

(24) Further, it is obvious that a relative bearing angle of the other ship with respect to the own ship at the closest point is easily calculated by utilizing a value of P(t) calculated in [Mathematical Formula 1].

(25) Here, even though in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the present invention has been described with an example in which the relative distance |P(t)| is calculated using [Mathematical Formula 1] and [Mathematical Formula 2], the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. That is, it should be noted that in addition to a method of using [Mathematical Formula 1] and [Mathematical Formula 2], for example, in order to calculate the value of |P(t)|, various methods may be utilized as needed, such as a method of utilizing navigation route information of the opponent received from the opponent.

(26) Further, in addition to displaying changes in relative distance with respect to the respective ships and obstacles in time series manner as described above, the ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may easily identify whether to collide with respective ships and obstacles and risk by displaying information such as a relative bearing angle of the other ship with respect to the own ship, a traveling direction, a close distance, and a closing time and also displaying a collision limit line representing a threshold value for avoidance, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

(27) That is, when the graph is located below the limit line, it means that there is a high risk of collision. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 3, information such as figures and symbols displayed on the graph is identified to identify the relative bearing angle, the traveling direction, a close distance, and a closing time of the other ship with respect to the own ship at a close point and the closest point to determine an avoidance route in advance and avoid and in the case of the ship, a warning is sent to the ship in advance so that accident may be prevented in advance.

(28) In this case, generally, when the ship is at sea, a ship which is located on the left needs to avoid. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a left and right positional relationship between the ships is also displayed using radar information so that it is also easily understood that which ship needs to be avoided first at a glance.

(29) Here, in the display example illustrated in FIG. 3, the left and right positional relationship between the respective ships are marked in a table by English characters L and R and a relative bearing angle in 12-hour unit, but the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. That is, it should be noted that in the present invention, the display of the left and right positional relationship between the respective ships may be configured by various methods as needed, for example, may be represented using colors, characters, or symbols of the graph.

(30) Further, a series of processing of determining whether to collide to notify a warning to a ship having an obligation to keep out of the way may be automatically performed by the ship collision avoidance guiding system.

(31) To be more specific, it is understood that in the display example illustrated in FIG. 3, both a graph of a ship 1 and a graph of a ship 2 are located below the collision limit line, so that there is a risk of collision and in contrast, a ship 3 is not located below the collision limit line so that there is no risk of collision.

(32) Further, in the display example illustrated in FIG. 3, the ship 1 crosses before the ship 2, so that the ship 1 needs to be preferentially avoided. In this case, since the ship 1 is located on the left, the ship 1 is a ship having an obligation to keep out of the way so that the ship 1 needs to be avoided. Therefore, to this end, a signal for notifying avoidance is transmitted to the ship 1.

(33) In contrast, with respect to the ship 2, the ship 2 crosses after the ship 1, but the ship 2 is located on the right. Therefore, it is easily identified that the own ship needs to be avoided with respect to the ship 2 and thus an alarm is generated to the own ship to notify avoidance to a navigation officer.

(34) Here, even though in the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the present invention is described with an example in which crossing and avoidance information is provided to a total of three ships, for the purpose of brief description, generally, there may be actually more ships or obstacles at the surrounding. Therefore, when a large number of ships or obstacles are displayed on one screen, legibility is deteriorated so that quick situation judgement may be disturbed.

(35) To this end, the present invention may be configured such that when a number of ships or obstacles to be displayed exceed a predetermined range, for example, only ships or obstacles corresponding to a criteria are selectively displayed based on a predetermined criteria such as an order in which collision occurs most quickly or a higher order of collision risk or the graph is enlarged or reduced to increase legibility.

(36) Therefore, from the above-described configuration, when the time series interface display method for ship collision avoidance according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is used, changes in a relative distance according to a time with respect to the respective ships at sea within a predetermined range and obstacles is represented through a time series graph and in this case, in the case of a ship, a left and right positional relationship of each ship is also displayed to easily identify positions of a ship nearby at sea and obstacles and crossing time and whether the ship is to be avoided at a glance, which helps to quickly and accurately judge a situation. Further, when a distance with a specific ship or obstacle is below a predetermined threshold value, avoidance is notified to a ship having an obligation to keep out of the way through an alarm to effectively prevent collision between ships and collision between ships and obstacles.

(37) Here, as the above-described avoidance notification, the avoidance notification is notified not only to the ship having an obligation to keep out of the way, but also to all of the ships having an obligation to keep out of the way and ships which do not have obligation to keep out of the way to cause both sides to watch the progress of avoidance so that the collision may be more effectively prevented.

(38) Moreover, the ship collision avoidance guiding system according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be configured to enable simulation for whether to collide by inputting a random value.

(39) That is, in order to determine an avoidance route, the ship collision avoidance guiding system according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be configured such that for example, when navigation information such as a route or a speed of a ship is input, like a case of turning to a starboard at a predetermined angle, a time series graph as newly illustrated in FIG. 3 is created according to the input navigation information to be displayed on the screen.

(40) Therefore, from the configuration as described above, when an avoidance route is set in a short distance through a simulation for a crossing event and avoidance, it is possible to easily identify whether to collide to quickly and accurately respond thereto and thus it is further possible to effectively prevent the collision between ships and collision between ships and obstacles.

(41) To be more specific, referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a view schematically illustrating an overall configuration of a ship collision avoidance guiding system 40 using a time series graphic display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(42) As illustrated in FIG. 4, as described above with reference to FIG. 3, a ship collision avoidance guiding system 40 using a time series graphic display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be configured to largely include a crossing and avoidance information providing unit 41 which represents a relative positional relationship of ships nearby at sea and obstacles and collision possibility by a time series graph, an input unit 42 which inputs various pieces of navigation information for performing a simulation for a crossing event and avoidance through the crossing and avoidance information providing unit 41, a display unit 43 which displays information generated through the crossing and avoidance information providing unit 41, a communication unit 44 which performs communication with external equipment and other ship, an alarm generating unit 45 which transmits a notification for avoidance to own ship and nearby ships, and a control unit 46 which controls an overall operation and function of each unit.

(43) Here, as described above with reference to FIG. 3, the crossing and avoidance information providing unit 41 may be configured to perform a processing of representing a relative positional relationship with respect to ships nearby at sea and obstacles and collision possibility in a time series graph.

(44) Further, the above-described crossing and avoidance information providing unit 41 may be configured to perform a processing of reconfiguring a relative positional relationship with respect to ships nearby at sea and obstacles according to a value input through the input unit 42 to be represented by the time series graph as illustrated in FIG. 3.

(45) Further, as described with reference to FIG. 3, when there is a collision risk, the above-described alarm generating unit 45 may be configured to automatically notify avoidance to a ship having an obligation to keep out of the way or both ships based on the result generated by the crossing and avoidance information providing unit 41.

(46) Moreover, the ship collision avoidance guiding system 40 using a time series graphic display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be configured as a separate independent device as illustrated in FIG. 4, but is not necessarily limited to such a configuration. That is, it should be noted that the ship collision avoidance guiding system 40 using a time series graphic display according to the present invention may be configured by installing a dedicated program or processing module configured to display a time series graphic interface in an existing navigation system as described with reference to FIG. 3 or may be configured in various manners as needed.

(47) Accordingly, the ship collision avoidance guiding system 40 using a time series graphic display according to the present invention may be implemented as described above.

(48) Further, by implementing the ship collision avoidance guiding system using a time series graphic display according to the present invention as described above, according to the present invention, the ship collision avoidance guiding system using a time series graphic display which is configured to represent changes in a relative distance according to a time with respect to respective ships at sea within a predetermined range and obstacles in a time series graph and display a left and right positional relationship of each ship to easily identify the position of the ship nearby at sea and obstacles, a crossing time, and whether the ship is to be avoided at a glance to help to quickly and accurately judge the situation is provided so that the problems of a conventional electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and navigation systems using the same which have a disadvantage in that various pieces of information are simply enumerated on a screen, which causes complex and unintuitive screen display so that it is difficult to quickly identify desired information may be solved.

(49) Further, according to the present invention, a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display which is configured to calculate changes in relative distance with a ship according to a time with respect to respective ships and obstacles based on information provided from the electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) and a radar system to represent the changes in relative distance in a time series graph and further, in the case of a ship, display whether the ship is on portside or starboard on the basis of radar information, and when the relative distance with a specific ship is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, notify avoidance to the ship having the obligation to keep out of the way through an alarm is provided, so that it is possible to identify the position of the ship nearby at sea and the obstacles, a crossing time, and whether the ship is to be avoided and efficiently prevent the collision between ships at sea.

(50) Moreover, according to the present invention, a ship collision avoidance guiding system using time series graphic display which is configured to easily identify positions of ships at sea and obstacles, a crossing time, and whether the ship is to be avoided and effectively prevent collision, and enable simulation for a crossing event and avoidance by inputting an arbitrary value is provided so that it is possible to quickly and accurately determine whether to avoid when a sea way for avoidance is planned in a short distance.

(51) As described above, although details of the ship collision avoidance guiding system using a time series graphic display according to the present invention have been described through the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the contents described in the above exemplary embodiment. Therefore, various modification, changes, combinations, and substitutions of the present invention may be allowed to those skilled in the art according to a design need and other various factors changed.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS AND SYMBOLS

(52) 40. Ship collision avoidance guiding system 41. Crossing and avoidance information providing unit 42. Input unit 43. Display 44. Communication unit 45. Alarm generating unit 46. Control unit