The Nature of the Information to be Displayed at Sea

Abstract

The view is taken in this paper that an automatic navigation system should be capable of weighing up data and issuing instructions, in the same manner as a human navigator. Conventional information tends to offer static rather than dynamic data.It is suggested that there are several stages of development towards completely automatic navigation: (i) a dynamic interpretation of the existing navigational situation, (ii) the automatic prediction of future situations, (iii) automatic navigational advice, (iv) automatic control of a ship under the supervision of a navigator. Such control would not take care of all situations but would be particularly suited to some; a list of the information likely to be required for presentation is given.For entirely automatic navigation to be feasible, the whole of the process of transport at sea may have to be reviewed. It is suggested that the trend should be towards presenting error, rate of change and forecast data.