Ship Berthing Information Extraction System Using Three-Dimensional Light Detection and Ranging Data

Abstract

Safe and efficient berthing is essential to ensure maritime transportation and the safety of ships and ports. Three-dimensional (3D) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) can monitor and support ship berthing because it provides abundant target information and offers excellent advantages in measuring accuracy. Hence, a berthing information extraction system has been developed based on 3D LiDAR. Principal component analysis is used to calculate a ship’s heading and the normal vector, and the feature points of the bow and stern are determined. The segments passing through the points are obtained via region growing. The bow and stern are recognized by the similarity of the normal vector of the segments and ship’s heading according to the positions of the ship relative to the berth through visibility analysis. Qualitative and quantitative calculated analyses of the distance, velocity, and approach angle of the dynamic ship’s bow and stern relative to the dock are performed based on the feature points of 3D LiDAR data. A laser scanner, used as the detection unit, efficiently monitored the Ro–Ro ship Ocean Island berthing at Lushun Port in field experiments. On-site applications demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method for the recognition of dynamic ship target and ensuring safe ship berthing.

Berthing Assistant System Using Reference Points

“…Our results show that we can fulfill most of our requirements. The BAS conforms to the IMO Resolution A.915 (22) with respect to the required update frequency of 4.2 Hz > 1 Hz. We were able to achieve a high measurement stability, in which only a few outliers could be found.…”

“…Integrity has been defined as "The ability to provide users with warnings within a specified time when the system should not be used for navigation" in the IMO Resolution A.915 (22) [19]. For port navigation, the resolution defines an alert limit (AL) of 2.5 m, a time to alarm (TTA) of 10 s, and an integrity risk of 10 −5 per 3 h as the main system integrity parameters.…”

“…In [22], a method for berthing information extraction is presented using 3D-LiDAR sensors. It features bow and stern recognition and measures distance, velocity, and approach angles in relation to the quay walls.…”

3D reconstruction of non-structural surface of a stiffened hull plate based on RGB-D images

“…The results showed that this method is able to enhance the quality of LTS measurements. Chen and Li 22 developed a berthing information extraction system on the basis of 3D light detection and ranging (LiDAR), which can calculate the dynamic angle, distance and velocity of the ship’s bow and stern to the dock. Desbrun et al 23 described a denoising scheme on the basis of curvature flow, which can remove the rough features of irregular data and is suitable for the problem of vertex sliding.…”

Performance of the Car Carrier Shipping Sector in the Iberian Peninsula under the COVID-19 Scenario

“…The port sector has suffered significant losses due to the pandemic, but on the other hand is in a process of continuous improvement due to the high level of maritime traffic and the strong economic impact of port activities. Recent researches are seeking to improve the data available to ports, for example with systems that allow the extraction of berthing information from ships using three-dimensional radar and light detection data [17]. Other research, such as that carried out by Martínez-Moya and Feo-Valero [18], is developing new indicators to measure port connectivity, in order to make shipping companies aware of the competitive advantages of ports, especially smaller ones.…”