Enabling Assistance Functions for Safe Navigation in Inland Waterways

Kurzfassung

Inland navigation and shipping is an important pillar of the European Transport System. To support the skipper during safety-critical operations, precise Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) data are required. This work discusses the role of PNT information for enabling inland waterways navigation assistance functions, such as bridge collision warning, mooring aiding or automatic guidance. A Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) technique is developed to provide integrity information alongside reliable and cm-level accurate PNT data. Besides, the transmission of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) correction data is investigated. Since Global System for Mobile (GSM) does not currently meet the availability and stability communication requirements along inland waterways, using the Automatic Identification System (AIS) for data transmission is explored. The proposed navigation solution and the communication developments were analysed in real time on challenging GNSS signal-degraded scenarios on the authorized inland waterway testbed. Despite the further developments required on the AIS communication infrastructure, it is shown that our system architecture can nearly meet the integrity and accuracy requirements for driver assistance functions on inland waterways.