Sustainable Maritime Transportation and Exploitation of Sea Resources Rizzuto & Guedes Soares (eds)

2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62081-9

Development of an onboard decision support system for ship

navigation under rough weather conditions
L.P. Perera, J.M. Rodrigues, R. Pascoal & C. Guedes Soares
Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (CENTEC), Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University
of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT: The paper describes the development of an onboard decision support system to support
ship operation, in particular on decisions about ship handling in waves, which will contribute to vessel
safety. The prototype system monitors several motion related parameters, and, by processing these data,
provides the ship master with the information about the consequences of the different ship handling
decisions. The paper describes the decision criteria and the approaches adopted for the calculation of the
parameters that govern the masters decisions. It describes the software that was developed to perform
those calculations and to display in a user interface the advice to the master as well as the data acquisition
and processing hardware that has been organized for the on board monitoring of motions and strains in
the structure.
1

INTRODUCTION

The effect of waves in rough weather is one of the

factors that most degrade a ships operational efficiency. Therefore, the tactical judgment involved in
the ship handling decision process takes an essential part in navigation. Rothblum et al. (2002) and
Anto & Guedes Soares (2008) have shown that
75% to 96% of marine casualties have their origins in some kind of human errors, where human
errors are still one of the major causes of maritime accidents (Guedes Soares, & Teixeira, (2001)).
Therefore whenever the navigators can be helped
with monitoring and decision support systems, a
contribution is being given to safety.
The initial developments of onboard systems
to aid the navigation in rough weather had been
mainly concerned with structural integrity and
equipment safety. Lindemann et al. (1977) developed one such system by measuring the accelerations in six degrees of freedom and the stresses
at a cross section. Hoffman (1980), considered a
system using ship to shore communications along
with charts for routing in heavy weather.
The work of Koyama et al. (1982) consisted of
a computer based system capable of computing
the mean period and the root mean square prediction of roll motion. The input component was a
pendulum for measuring the ship motions and,
given a pre-determined criterion, an alarm would
fire in case of danger. Unfortunately the pendulum
system proved unsatisfactory especially for high
speeds so the results were shown to be unreliable.

Later, Huss & Olander (1994) formulated a

prototype of an on board based guidance and surveillance system for wave induced effects on ships,
where a rate gyro and an accelerometer were used
towards the local real-time estimation of the sea
state in the form of a spectrum. Kse et al. (1995)
proposed a scheme based on low cost equipments
which, with special purpose developed software,
resulted in an encompassing reliable system for
stability monitoring and advising applicable to
any ship. Payer, and Rathje, (2004) presented a
onboard system thought for containership operation in rough seas.
The present work deals with the development
of an onboard decision support system for tactical decisions of ship handling in waves, which enables the master to improve ship performance while
minimizing the likelihood of structural damage.
The system now reported has been formulated in
2005, before the start of the EU Handling Waves
project (http://www.mar.ist.utl.pt/handlingwaves/).
It has some similar principles and solutions to the
decision support system that has been developed
for the operation of fishing vessels, as described by
Rodrigues et al (2011).
More recently, Bitner-Gregersen, & Skjong
(2009) and Nielsen & Jensen (2010) presented
concepts of risk-based guidance of ships, which
have some ideas that can be incorporated in future
systems.
The system now reported besides monitoring
in real time the actual ship responses, also predicts
the near term motions and structural loads due

837

both to weather changes and to possible changes

in course and speed by the shipmaster. It also
includes a component of hull monitoring by strain
gauges, which corresponds to a more established
technology as described by Slaughter et al. (1997),
which however is here integrated with the decision
support system.
More specifically this paper deals with the development of monitoring devices able to accurately measure the motions of the ship and the implementation
of a Decision Support System (DSS) integrating the
various elements required. The systems architecture,
working principles, dataflow, calculation procedures
and equipment are herein described.
2

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

Figure 1 shows the logical architecture of the DSS.

The main modules are: Data Processing and Analysis module, Structural Loads Estimator module,
and the Sea Estimator module.
The Data Processing and Analysis module
allows the monitoring in real-time of the ship
motions and accelerations for arbitrary positions
in the ship. The Structural Loads Estimator provides estimation of the loads on the structure,
assessed by different approaches.
The Sea Estimator Module uses the filtered
and digitized accelerations and velocities associated with ship motions, measured during the previous minutes, and these are used to estimate the
directional wave spectrum. This is achieved by the
implementation of a Kalman filter based algorithm
described by Pascoal & Guedes Soares (2009),
which proved a better option than the approach
considered initially, which is described in Pascoal &
Guedes Soares (2008).
From this estimation of the spectrum, the system predicts the near term motions and structural
loads due both to weather changes and to possible
changes in course, taking for this a probabilistic
approach in the form of root mean square values
of key motion amplitude and acceleration levels.

Figure 1.

DSS logical architecture.

These parameters are then checked against predefined operational safety criteria, which results
in the construction of a polar plot on which
the areas with dangerous combinations of ship
course and speed are indicated. The prediction of
motions and accelerations is done from the estimated directional wave spectra and the existence
of pre-calculated motion transfer functions using
a strip theory code. With these values, the criteria
for operability and seasickness in NORDFORSK
(1987) and in OHalon and McCauley (1974) are
assessed.
It has also been implemented the capability to
check, for a given the sea state, the probability of
occurrence of parametric rolling based on experimental and numerical results. A simple query to
a database containing the results for the different
combinations of ship speed and course was the
methodology chosen.
The Structural Loads Estimator also uses the
estimated spectrum and transfer functions for
shear forces and bending moments to predict
what would be the loads in the structure in the
different options of course and speed decisions.
It also includes a neural network model (Moreira
and Guedes Soares, 2011) that uses as input the
measured accelerations and motions at the various locations of the ship and produces as output
the shear stresses and bending moments at selected
locations, so that the ship master can have on-line
information of the loads that the structure is being
subjected.
In addition to the motion measurement equipment, a set of strain-gauge units are installed
onboard, so as to provide a direct measurement of
the strains in the structure, which can be compared
with the predicted strains from the neural network
model of the Structural Loads Estimator.

CRITERIA FOR SHIP OPERATIONAL

SAFETY

The operability criterion correlates the type of

work to be performed at a given location on the
vessel with its maximum rms (root mean square)
values of lateral acceleration, vertical acceleration
and roll amplitude. The limit values according to
NORDFORSK (1987) are listed in (Table 1).
The OHanlon and McCauley (1974) criterion
for MSI (Motion Sickness Incidence) is defined as
the percentage of people to experience seasickness
during a period of two hours. It is governed by the
following expressions:

MSI = 100 0

838

l og10 (a z / g) MSI
erf
% (1)

0.4

Table 1.

RMS criterion.
x3, P

x2,P

x4, P

Description of work

m/s2

m/s2

deg

Light manual work

Heavy manual work
Intellectual work
Transit passengers
Cruise liner

0.20 g
0.15 g
0.10 g
0.05 g
0.02 g

0.10 g
0.07 g
0.05 g
0.04 g
0.03 g

6.0
4.0
3.0
2.5
2.0
Figure 2.

2
MSI = 0 819 + 2 32( log10
10 e )

erf
r ( x ) = erf
r ( x) =

x
z2
1
exp
2 dz
2 0

(2)
(3)

where az stands for the vertical acceleration at some

point in the ship where one wishes to assess the
incidence of motion sickness and, in (Eq. 2), e is
the frequency of encounter.
It is crucial to point out that the above defined
quantities are evaluated at some point in the structure of the ship where it is significant to assess the
motions. Therefore, there is a need to expand the
linear motions from the centre of gravity, which
are given by the raw transfer functions, into the
absolute motions at the specific point of interest.
4

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

SUPPORT SYSTEM

Regarding the actual implementation, the system

may be decomposed into 5 units as presented
in Figure 2, where the software architecture is
shown and the implementation tools are referred
(LABVIEW and C#).
The System Sensors are responsible for all motion
measurements and the Wave Spectrum Estimation
Program takes into action the task of estimating the
real-time local sea state. The User Interface allows
access to the polar plot as described in Section 1,
it permits the graphical monitoring of all variable
values that govern the calculations taking place,
and constitutes the tool by which the developer
may perform analysis and troubleshooting.
The Ship Operability Estimation Program is an
application responsible for the computation of the
predicted near term motions for the current and
other possible combinations of speed and course,
from the knowledge of the estimated spectrum
main parameters.
Finally, the Main Program constitutes the kernel
of the systems dataflow. It collects and stores all
real-time sensor and estimated spectrum data, it is

Software architecture.

also responsible for communicating with the Ship

Operability Estimation Program by sending the
spectrum parameters and receiving a set of m n
matrices to be forwarded to the User Interface. Here
m is the number of discretized possible speeds of
advance and n the number of discretized possible
ship course directions. These matrices are populated
with zeros and ones, thus providing a mapping to
implement on a polar plot, where a one classifies a
combination of speed and course which results in an
undesirable behaviour of the ship for the current sea
state, in light of the criteria defined in Section 2.
4.1

Wave spectrum estimation program

The Wave Spectrum Estimation Program runs

under the LABVIEW Real-Time (RT) operating
system. This unit implements a high-speed iterative procedure for estimating the ocean wave directional spectrum from the vessel motion data. It
uses as input the measurements from motion sensors and provides spectral updates under quickly
changing weather conditions.
The Kalman filtering algorithm, for iterative
harmonic detection, and frequency domain vessel
response data in the form of transfer functions, are
used in the estimation process. The output is the
estimated directional spectrum parameters: significant wave height, mean period and mean direction.
More details on this subject may be found in the
references given in Section 1 concerning the realtime spectrum estimation.
4.2 User interface
The view of the User Interface on the laptop computer is presented in Figure 3. The interface consists
of 9 parts: data management, application management, GPS display, channel test, danger zones display, statistics data, estimated spectrum display,
loads conditions display, and motion signals display. These sections are presented by separate tabs:
Data management: The data management section is responsible for collecting sensor and GPS
data (accelerometer, wave height measurement

839

Figure 3.

Laptop on the bridge with user interface.

sensor, inclinometer, angular rate sensor, strain

gauge sensors). The sensor data is then saved to
an external hard drive.
Application management: The application
management section enables the operator to
stop, reboot and restart individual processes and
programs. These processes and programs are:
User Interface, CompactRIO and EtherCAT (see
Section 4) units, and Wave Spectrum Estimator.
GPS display: The GPS display is responsible for
read and display services of data collected from
the GPS sensor.
Channel test: This section is designed to read
and write uncelebrated data from the different
channels in the data acquisition system. Any
problems with read and write operations with
Data Acquisition (DAQ) channels can be evaluated in this unit.
Danger zones: The main objective of the danger
zones section is to display the results calculated
by the Operability Assessment Program. A polar
plot constructed by mapping the matrices previously defined is presented.
Statistics display: This section consists of statistical information about the accumulated data that
has been collected by the ship sensors. However,
currently this unit is under development.
Estimated spectrum display: Relates to the wave
spectrum estimation which has been done by the
Kalman filter algorithm that is running under
the LabVIEW RT platform on the Wave Spectrum Estimation Program. An isometric view of
the bi-dimensional spectrum is displayed in this
window.
Load conditions display: The ships hull stress
conditions that are measured by the strain gauge
sensors are displayed in this section. High strain
values are monitored by the program and a warning light will also be displayed on this section.
Motion signal display: The calibrated ship
motions that are measured by the sensors are
displayed in this section. The ship surge, sway
and heave accelerations, pitch and roll angles

Figure 4. Ship
architecture.

operability

estimation

program

and yaw rate are displayed in the top area of this

section. The measured wave height is displayed
on the bottom area of this section.
4.3

Ship operability estimation program

The Ship Operability Estimation Program implements the criteria checking defined in Section 2.
Based on the estimated spectrum parameter it
constructs a JONSWAP spectrum and computes
the necessary quantities previously defined. Contrary to the remainder of the system, this tool is
not part of the LABVIEW en vironment (see
Fig. 2), but is rather a .net standalone application. The communication with the Main Program
is done through continuously updated input and
output files.
In Figure 4 the architecture of this application
is presented, where it can be seen the inclusion of
a parametric rolling occurrence check. This check
has yet to be correctly implemented, although the
logic has already been set to work. It consists on a
query which is done to a database of simulations/
tests done on the particular vessel for which the
occurrence of this phenomenon is likely to be
expected. These simulations/tests are not yet available and this fact constitutes the cause to which
this subject is not discussed further in this paper.
5

EXPERIMENTAL PLATFORM

The DSS prototype has been installed on a Ro-Ro

ship with Lpp = 214.0 m and B = 32.0 m. Another
prototype is currently being set up on a container
vessel with Lpp = 117.6 m and B = 20.2 m.
The system has been put to work on the Ro-Ro
ship and it has been collecting data from the
motions and calculations results. Once enough

840

data have been collected the same will then be used

to calibrate and validate the system. In this section,
a brief presentation of the individual components
of the experimental platform and its operating
logic is carried out.
5.1

Functional structure

Considering the assigned tasks, the DSS can be

divided into three main sub-systems: Motion monitoring sub-system, Stress monitoring sub-system
and Wave condition monitoring sub-system.
The main objective of the Motion monitoring
sub-system is to evaluate the vessel motions on the
seaway. It consists of the midship accelerometer, the
midship angular rate sensor, and the inclinometer.
The sensor locations are presented in Figure 5.
The accelerometer measures the surge, sway, and
heave accelerations. The angular rate sensor measures the yaw angular velocity and the inclinometer
measures the roll and pitch angles.
The purpose of the Stress monitoring sub-system
is to evaluate the hull stress condition. It consists
of four strain gauges that are oriented: Two strain
gauges located starboard and portside of the midship and two strain gauges located fore and aft of
starboard. The strain gauges locations are also presented in Figure 5.
The function of the Wave condition monitoring
sub-system is to evaluate the wave spectrum. It consists of the wave height measurement sensor and
the bow accelerometer. Their locations are shown
in Figure 5. The bow mounted, down-looking,
wave measurement sensor measures the relative
wave height and the bow accelerometer compensates for the vessel motions.

Figure 5.

Sensor locations.

Figure 6.

Hardware structure.

5.2 Hardware structure

The hardware structure, shown in Figure 6, mainly
consists of the real-time digital data acquisition system (DAQ), sensors, computers and power supply
units. It is composed of the following units: Laptop computer with external hard-drive, Desktop
computer, GPS unit, sensors, Compact-RIO and
EtherCAT, Ethernet switch and Power suppliers.
5.2.1 Laptop computer
The laptop computer acts as the main control
equipment of the system. There are three software
components that run on the laptop: User Interface,
Main Program and Ship Operability Assessment
Program. The first two are coded with LABVIEW,
whereas the third is a standalone .net application
developed in C#. An external hard-drive, with the
purpose of saving real-time data for further analysis, and the GPS unit, are both connected directly
to the laptop.

5.2.2 Desktop computer

The desktop computer runs the LABVIEW realtime operating system which enables high-speed
calculation for Kalman filter based wave spectrum estimation. The inputs to the wave spectrum estimation program are the motion related
sensor measurements (midship accelerometers,

841

wave height sensor, inclinometer, and angular rate

sensor), the vessel course and speed. The output
of is the estimated wave spectrum including the
wave direction, significant wave height and mean
period. These quantities are then forwarded to the
Ship Operability Estimation Program for further
analysis.
5.2.3 GPS unit
The GPS NORTHSTAR Explorer 557 unit that
has been installed on the experimental platform is
presented in Figure 7. The unit comprises an external antenna and a RS-232 data communication
cable. This unit is connected to the laptop through
a combined USB/RS-232 communication port.
The system parameters fetched by the GPS unit
vessel position, speed and courseare forwarded
to the system by the laptop.
5.2.4 CompactRIO and EtherCAT
CompactRIO and EtherCAT units from
NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS are used as the
main data acquisition components for the DSS, and
are pictured in Figures 8 and 9. The CompactRIO
unit is located at midhsips and it is the central data
acquisition hardware, whereas the EtherCAT unit
is installed closer to the bow and acts as an extension of the first.

Figure 7.

Figure 8.

GPS unit.

National instruments Compact-RIO unit.

Figure 9.

National instruments EhterCAT unit.

5.2.5 Ethernet switch

The Unmanaged Ethernet Switch that enables
communication between the CompactRIO unit,
laptop, and desktop computer is presented in
Figure 10. This unit incorporates an automated
bandwidth management process that can secure
the network from overloading among other errors.
Furthermore, the unit is capable of online debugging and automatic recovering of IP addresses of
other Ethernet linked units.
5.2.6 Other sensors
A picture of the compact system sensor configuration is presented in Figure 11. The CompactRIO
is connected with several sensors: Angular rate
sensor, accelerometer, inclinometer and four
strain gauge sensors. The EtherCAT unit is connected with the wave height measurement sensor
and its associated accelerometer, connection box
and signal processors. The installation of the signal processor with the EtherCAT unit is shown in
Figure 12.
5.2.7 Strain gauge sensors
As can be inferred from Figure 13, the sensor
comprises a steel rod which is allowed to displace
longitudinally at one end. The measurement of
this displacement at the four distinct locations
depicted in Figure 4 and consequent conversion to
strain values, gives way to the assessment of the
ships structural loads such as the vertical bending
moment.
5.2.8 Wave height sensor
The bow mounted, down-looking, wave height
measurement sensor is presented in Figure 14. This
TSURUMI SEIKI wave height sensor consists of
four components: sensor unit, accelerometer, connection box and single processing unit. The sensor
component measures the relative height of the bow
wave by resorting to a microwave Doppler method,
while the accelerometer measures the vessels acceleration so as to eliminate the relative motion effect.

842

Figure 10.

National instrument Ethernet switch.

Figure 11.

The compact system with sensors.

Figure 12.

Figure 13.

Strain gauge sensor.

Figure 14.

Wave height Senso.

Figure 15.

Power supply unit with wiring connections.

Signal processor with EtherCAT unit.

The connection box enables the linkage between

both these components and the signal processor
unit, from which the output is taken. The analogue
output of the signal processor unit which is made
available to the DSS is composed by the quantities: ship displacement, relative wave height, wave
height, significant wave height and average wave
period.
5.2.9 Power supplies
Three power supply units are used to power the
CompactRIO, EtherCAT, associated sensors and
the GPS unit. One such power supply unit and its
wiring connections are presented in Figure 15.

CONCLUSIONS

An prototype of an onboard decision support

system for ship navigation under rough sea and
weather conditions has been set up and installed
on board of a Ro-Ro ship.
The system is currently collecting data as the
ship operates, which will be used in its calibration
and validation. Besides the motion measurement
related instruments, strain gauges have also been
installed. The time series of the values of the strains
at these sensors locations, will serve as the basis

843

for the training of a neural network to be implemented, capable of quickly and accurately giving
the expected loads given the present sea state and
possible ships courses and speeds. The system has
been successfully tested in terms of hardware and
software integration. Another prototype installation is being done on a container vessel, and the
chronological steps will be the same as regarding
the first ship.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is done within the project of Handling
Waves: Decision Support System for Ship Operation in Rough Weather, which is being funded by
the European Commission, under contract TST5CT-2006-031489.
The work of the first and second authors has
been supported by research fellowship of the
Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundao para a Cincia e a Tecnologia)
under contract SFRH/BD/46270/2008 and SFRH/
BD/64242/2009, respectively.
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