Smart Navigation System

The research project Prepare Ships, led by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, will develop a navigation system that foresees the positions of other vessels through machine learning. 

This reduces the risk of collisions and enables more efficient navigation. The project has recently been granted funding through the “European GNSS Agency”, GSA.

A consortium of Swedish, Norwegian and German partners has now been given the go-ahead for their research and innovation project that will increase safety and efficiency in shipping. The goal of Prepare Ships is to create a positioning solution for smart and connected navigation applications.

One of the main causes of ship collisions today is lack of awareness of the position and intention of other vessels. By being able to predict future positions for vessels in the vicinity with high position accuracy by EGNSS and machine learning and exchange these dynamic predictions with the vessels nearby with VDES, smarter decisions can be made. In addition to reducing the risk of collisions, this allows for more energy efficient maneuvering of the vessels, which contributes to reduced environmental impact of shipping.

In addition to RISE, the project also includes Telko (Norway), SAAB (Sweden), ANAVS (Germany), (Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authority) and supported by Stena Line (Sweden). The project runs over 26 months and starts in December 2019.

* Real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning
** PPP Precise point positioning
*** VHF Data Exchange System (VDES)
**** Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)