Development of Solution for Safety and Optimal Weather Routing of a Ship

When a ship sails on sea, it may be influenced by the environmental disturbance such as wind, wave, sea surface temperature, etc. These affect on the ship's speed, fuel consumption, safety and operating performance. It is necessary to find the optimal weather route of a ship to avoid adverse weather conditions which can put the crews in serious danger or cause structural damage to the vessel, machinery, and equipment. This study introduced how to apply A* algorithm based on sea trial test data for determining the optimal ship routes. The path cost function was modelled as a function of minimum arrival time or minimum energy depending on the time of various environment conditions. The specially modelled path-cost function and the safety constraints were applied to the A* algorithm in order to find the optimal path of the ship. The comparison of ship performances estimated by real sea trial's path and estimated optimal route during the voyage of the ship was investigated. The result of this study can be used to create a schedule to ensure safe operation of the ship with short passage time or minimum energy. In addition, the result of this study can be integrated into an on-board decision supporting expert system and displayed in Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) to provide all the useful information to ship master.