Overview
The main aim of SafePort is to assist the move towards safe and efficient control of the transit of all vessels in a port from the port entrance to their berths and out again. In order to realise this aim we need to develop 2 separate but interdependent systems.
- The first is an Active Vessel Traffic Management and Information System, or A-VTMIS [Stateczny, 2005]. The idea of which is to take the state of the art in VTMIS which is a passive system providing information and advisories and use this as a basis to actively manage the transit of all vessels in the jurisdiction of the VTMIS. The A-VTMIS must plan provably safe paths for multiple vessels as they arrive from the entrance to the harbour to their berths and ensure that the vessels follow these paths safely without conflicting with the paths of other vessels.
- The second system is a pilot aid (SafePilot) which will ensure that crew or harbour pilot can safely and efficiently navigate the courses provided by the A-VTMIS and execute precision docking manoeuvres for large vessels
In order to achieve these objectives, the accuracy, reliability and SoL aspects of EGNOS are critical. The combination of the accuracy, the availability of the integrity function, and the availability of a single standardised service offer at all European Ports mean that we will be able to develop an A-VTMIS which will be capable of planning and managing efficient and safe paths for multiple vessels. Additionally, the implementation of authentication mechanisms to support identification and safe recognition of assets in the Maritime operations (e.g. Cargo, ships, vehicles, etc.) as complementary to the SiS authentication provided by SoL services is essential for safety-related operations. SafePilot will exploit the EGNOS Commercial Data Distribution Service (CDDS) and SoL services to achieve the very high accuracy required (<10cm) to safely dock large vessels and again ensure the availability of a fail-safe.