• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.307-312
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• 2015

ARPA(Automatic Radar Plotting Aid) is a device to calculate CPA(closest point of approach)/TCPA(time of CPA), true course and speed of targets by vector operation of relative courses and speeds. The purpose of this study is to develop target acquisition and tracking technology for ARPA Radar implementation. After examining the previous studies, applicable algorithms and technologies were developed to be combined and basic ARPA functions were developed as a result. As for main research contents, the sequential image processing technology such as combination of grayscale conversion, gaussian smoothing, binary image conversion and labeling was deviced to achieve a proper target acquisition, and the NNS(Nearest Neighbor Search) algorithm was appllied to identify which target came from the previous image and finally Kalman Filter was used to calculate true course and speed of targets as an analysis of target behavior. Also all technologies stated above were implemented as a SW program and installed onboard, and verified the basic ARPA functions to be operable in practical use through onboard test.

• International Journal of Ocean System Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.52-59
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• 2011

A prototype radar display unit was implemented using inexpensive off-the-shelf components, including a nonlinear estimation algorithm for the target tracking in a clutter environment. Two custom designed boards; an analog signal processing board and a DSP board, can be plugged into an expansion slot of a personal computer (PC) to form a maritime radar display unit. Our system provided all the functionality specified in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) resolution A422(XI). The analog signal processing board was used for A/D conversion as well as rain and sea clutter suppression. The main functions of the DSP board were scan conversion and video overlay operations. A host PC was used to run the tracking algorithm of targets in clutter, using the discrete-time Bayes optimal (nonlinear, and non-Gaussian) estimation method, and the graphic user interface (GUI) software for Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA). The proposed tracking method recursively found the entire probability density function of the target position and velocity by converting into linear convolution operations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.177-187
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• 2009

This paper describes a automatic video surveillance system(AVSS) with long range and 360$^{\circ}$ coverage that is automatically rotated in an elevation over azimuth mode in response to the TTM(tracked target message) signal of vessels tracked by ARPA(automatic radar plotting aids) radar. This AVSS that is a video security and tracking system supported by ARPA radar, CCTV(closed-circuit television) camera system and other sensors to automatically identify and track, detect the potential dangerous situations such as collision accidents at sea and berthing/deberthing accidents in harbor, can be used in monitoring the illegal fishing vessels in inshore and offshore fishing ground, and in more improving the security and safety of domestic fishing vessels in EEZ(exclusive economic zone) area. The movement of the target vessel chosen by the ARPA radar operator in the AVSS can be automatically tracked by a CCTV camera system interfaced to the ECDIS(electronic chart display and information system) with the special functions such as graphic presentation of CCTV image, camera position, camera azimuth and angle of view on the ENC, automatic and manual controls of pan and tilt angles for CCTV system, and the capability that can replay and record continuously all information of a selected target. The test results showed that the AVSS developed experimentally in this study can be used as an extra navigation aid for the operator on the bridge under the confusing traffic situations, to improve the detection efficiency of small targets in sea clutter, to enhance greatly an operator s ability to identify visually vessels tracked by ARPA radar and to provide a recorded history for reference or evidentiary purposes in EEZ area.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.38-48
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• 2023

To maintain the existing systems of ships and introduce autonomous operation technology, it is necessary to improve situational awareness through the sensor fusion of the automatic identification system (AIS) and automatic radar plotting aid (ARPA), which are installed sensors. This study proposes an algorithm for determining whether AIS and ARPA signals are sent to the same ship in real time. To minimize the number of errors caused by the time series and abnormal phenomena of heterogeneous signals, a tracking method based on the combination of the unscented Kalman filter and probabilistic data association filter is performed on ARPA radar signals, and a position prediction method is applied to AIS signals. Especially, the proposed algorithm determines whether the signal is for the same vessel by comparing motion-related components among data of heterogeneous signals to which the corresponding method is applied. Finally, a measurement test is conducted on a training ship. In this process, the proposed algorithm is validated using the AIS and ARPA signal data received by the voyage data recorder for the same ship. In addition, the proposed algorithm is verified by comparing the test results with those obtained from raw data. Therefore, it is recommended to use a sensor fusion algorithm that considers the characteristics of sensors to improve the situational awareness accuracy of existing ship systems.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.536-546
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• 2003

We propose an object extraction technique adequate for the radial shape's radar signal structure for the purpose of implementing ARPA(Automatic Radar Plotting Aid) installed in the vessel. The radar signal data are processed by interpolation and accumulation to acquire a qualified image. The objects of the radar image have characteristics of having different shape and size as it gets far from the center, and it is not adequate for clustering generally. Therefore, this study designs a new vigilance distance model of elliptical shape and adopts this model in the ART2 neural network. We prove that the proposed clustering method makes it possible to extract objects adaptively and to separate the connected objects effectively.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.241-247
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• 2016

The tracking filter plays a key role in the accurate estimation and prediction of maneuvering a vessel's position and velocity when attempting to enhance safety by avoiding collision. Therefore, in order to achieve accurate estimation and prediction, many oceangoing vessels are equipped with the Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA) system. However, the accuracy of prediction depends on the tracking filter's ability to reduce noise and maintain a stable transient response. The purpose of this paper is to derive the optimal values of the gain parameters used in tracking a High Dynamic Warship. The algorithm employs a ${\alpha}-{\beta}-{\gamma}$ filter to provide accurate estimates and updates of the state variables, that is, positions, velocity and acceleration of the high dynamic warship based on previously observed values. In this study, the filtering coefficients ${\alpha}$, ${\beta}$ and ${\gamma}$ are determined from set values of the damping parameter, ${\xi}$. Optimization of the damping parameter, ${\xi}$, is achieved experimentally by plotting the residual error against different values of the damping parameter to determine the least value of the damping parameter that results in the optimum smoothing coefficients leading to a reduction in the noise corruption effect. Further investigation of the performance of the filter indicates that optimal smoothing coefficients depend on the initial and average velocity of the target.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.525-533
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• 2017

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate maritime officers' strategies to avoid the ship collision in crossing situations. Background: In a situation where there is a risk of collision between two ships, maritime officers can change the direction and speed of the own-ship to avoid the collision. They have four options to select; adjusting the speed only, the direction only, both the speed and direction at the same time and no action. Research questions were whether the strategy they are using differs according to the shipboard experience of maritime officers and the representation method of ARPA (automatic radar plotting aid) - radar graphic information. Method: Participants were 12. Six of them had more than 3 years of onboard experience, while the others were 4th grade students at Korea Maritime and Ocean University. For each participant, 32 ship encounter situations were provided with ARPA-radar information. 16 situations were presented by the north-up display and 16 situations were presented by the track-up display. Participants were asked to decide how to move the own-ship to avoid the ship collision for each case. Results: Most participants attempted to avoid the collision by adjusting the direction of the ship, representing an average of 22.4 times in 32 judgment trials (about 70%). Participants who did not have experience on board were more likely to control speed and direction at the same time than participants with onboard experience. Participants with onboard experience were more likely to control the direction of the ship only. On the other hand, although the same ARPA Information was provided to the participants, the participants in many cases made different judgments depending on the method of information representation; track-up display and north-up display. It was only 25% that the participants made the same judgment under the same collision situations. Participants with onboard experience did make the same judgment more than participants with no onboard experience. Conclusion: In marine collision situations, maritime officers tend to avoid collisions by adjusting only the direction of their ships, and this tendency is more pronounced among maritime officers with onboard experience. The effect of the method of information representation on their judgment was not significant. Application: The results of this research might help to train maritime officers for safe navigation and to design a collision avoidance support system.