Author(s)

J. Beschnidt & E. D. Gilles

Abstract

This paper presents structure, functionality and applications of a virtual navigation environment for the simulation of traffic on inland and coastal waterways. The simulation is focused on realistically modelling the dynamics of vessels in water and on generating typical sensor measurements such as radar or GPS. Simulated objects react on internal behaviour descriptions or external control sig-nals. Due to the ability to simulate a large number of vessels and objects, even complex traffic scenarios can be created. The simulator can be linked to external systems such as radar processing systems, on-board navigation aids, or VTS and coastal surveillance systems, hence allowing one to extensively and safely test and validate their functionalities (e.g. integrated sensor signal processing, data presen-tation or course control and route planning) under real-time and close-to real-life conditions. This article concentrates on describing the differential equations used to model the vessel dynamics. Furthermore, the emulation techniques used to gen-erate realistic radar video, including various measurement artefacts, are presented. Finally this article will show setup and results of testing a multi-sensor vessel traffic surveillance system. Keywords: vessel traffic simulation, sensor emulation, radar.

Keywords

vessel traffic simulation, sensor emulation, radar.