The modern simulation software includes an impact of forces acting on the ship hull. One of the mostsignificant forces is sea waves acting. The mathematical model allows simulation of ship motions in irregularsea wave area, both – at deep and shallow waters. The wave surface model enables simulation of the waveelevation in compliance with wave spectrum occurring in various conditions. The paper presents generaldescription of the sea wave model used in maritime simulators. An example of such simulators is used at the laboratory of the Naval University of Gdynia, where it is operated basing on NT-Pro 5000 software by Transas Marine. The latest version of simulation software gives a possibility to select the wave spectrum. Selection of the waving type, depending on sea area location, makes the ship movement more reliable. This is an important element in testing the ships behavior process

Accurate knowledge about the causes, circumstances and place of transport accidents is the prerequisite to take the correct action to improve transport safety. Developing appropriate organizational structures, formsand methods of management and implementation of safety measures in the sectoral approach condition the success. Therefore, the Safety Information System is one of the integral areas of the Integrated Transport Safety System ZEUS

Growing environmental protection requirements also include problems of ozone depletion by coolants. This article presents a possibility of using a cause-and-effect diagram, known as Ishikawa diagram, for an analysis of faults occurring in marine refrigeration systems. The analysis, focused on refrigeration systems installed in Polish fishing vessels, makes use of extensive faults data collected during research

PNDS (Pilot Navigation and Docking System) [1] utilizes the range measurement between laser head and ship’s side to determine the ship’s outline presented on the screen. The noisy measurements and dynamic process noise affect the accuracy of determined parameters and propagate to ship’s heading and position. To improve the performance of PNDS system there was a need to apply the data filtering technique. In the paper the theoretical basis and algorithm of discrete Kalman filter designed for range optimal estimation in PNDS were described. The real data collected during berthing operation of motor vessel Navigator XXI were filtered and compared to row unfiltered data. The conclusions contain evaluation of filter capabilities and its potential application in PNDS system

The paper presents a software implementation of multiple model neural filter for radar target tracking. Such a filter may be proposed as an interesting alternative for numerical filters. The main purpose of software implementation is to provide a tool for complex research of the filter possibilities and adjusting options. A concept of a filter is briefly mentioned, however the main body of paper is focused on user-approach detailed description of application with UML use-case diagrams. Examples of detailed presentation of usecases are given and the general use-case diagram for application is included. The application itself is to be an advanced tool for researchers interested in analyzing target tracking process, providing different tracking methods and the possibility of adjusting their parameters. The possibility of simulating any scenario, as well as working with real data (also on-line) was ensured. The research was financed by Polish National Centre of Science under the research project “Development of radar target tracking methods of floating targets with the use of multiple model neural filtering”

The research explained in this paper was carried out to investigate the efficiency of different steering systems on sailing yachts. The steering system of a sail yacht mostly includes a simple steering system and a hydrodynamic shaped single rudder or multiple rudders, depending on boat characteristics. One of the basic design guidelines for fast sailing yachts is to reduce wetted surface to minimum allowed by the dynamic stability and maintaining the sailing performances. Deficiencies of different steering systems are discussed and their influences on total drag and yacht manoeuvrability in different sailing directions is analysed. The discussion is focused on steering systems applicable in practice and accepted by the yacht-building industry, although several innovations could be found that remained on their development stage because of their complexity in construction, maintenance, use itself and reliability. All measurements have been conducted at sea applying on board sensors for position and accelerations acquirements. The purpose of the research was to demonstrate that the use of the bended rudder can reduce the leeway angle, the upwind sailing angle and increase the velocity made good to windwar

Radar target tracking on a sea-going ship is a basic source of information about movement of other vessels, influencing directly safety of navigation. The research on improving of tracking methods has led to a new concept of multiple model neural filtration, which is a combination of multiple model approach with the use of artificial neural networks for the needs of estimation of movement vector. One of the key issue during designing of filter id to establish rules of interaction between elementary filters. The paper presents the most popular methods of manoeuvre detection and interaction of elementary filters in the numerical filtration. The modifications of them for the needs of neural tracking are proposed. Additionally, a concept of use of probabilistic neural network for this purpose is described. The idea was checked in the experimental research with the use of simulation. The result of the research confirmed usefulness of using PNN in multiple model filtration, showing however simultaneously the directions of future research in this. The research was financed by Polish National Centre of Science under the research project “Development of radar target tracking methods of floating targets with the use of multiple model neural filtering”

In the sea areas with heavy traffic, there is a great danger of collision or grounding. In order to improvemaritime safety at the gulf of Gdańsk in the middle of 90s, a vessel traffic services was installed. The VTSsystem operators can provide navigational assistance, if the parameters of the ships movement endanger thesafety of navigation. For proper functioning of the system there is a network of coastal radars stations whosesignal is used to create a radar picture of the navigational situation. In the vts determination of the ship position based on radar observations may lead to large errors. The IMO organization recommends to reject and repeat measurements containing large errors. For a moving ship perform a re-measurement in the same position is not possible. This paper presents possibility of compensation the coordinates of the vessel position based on radar observations using the of M-estimation methods

In this paper the hypothesis about Poissonian character of vessel traffic stream from Świnoujście to Szczecin has been verified. And the hypothesis about Non-Poissonian character of vessel traffic stream from Szczecin to Świnoujście has been verified. To reach this goal, VTS data from second half of 2009 has been used. To description of non- Poissonian vessel traffic stream, for the first time, mixed distributions have been use

The paper presents the practical using of model for underkeel clearance evaluation. Real data from Maritime Office concerning ships which enter ports was used to analysis of results first probabilistic model of underkeel clearance and next integrated system. During analysis mean probability that underkeel clearance will be less than zero was determined for ports in Świnoujście, Szczecin and Police. Results of this analysis can be used for further research connected with integrated system for underkeel clearance calculation

The risk analysis of ships’ accidents leads to the conclusion that one of the most important and dangerous stages existing during a ship’s trip is harbour entering and leaving. The use of the modern methods of risk estimation should improve both ship/harbour safety and the economic profitability of the taken decisions. This concerns especially the harbour entering by maximum acceptable size ships for the given harbour. The analysis of the indispensable data sets and the decision model algorithm proposed for the system of Szczecin– Świnoujście ports were described in the article. The use of the decision model, taking into consideration the dynamic current data and hydro-meteorological conditions, including their changes tendency and the possible changes of ship movement parameters, should increase the decision efficiency and hold the same safety level

The paper presents problem of ships traffic flow parameters estimation and the impact of sample size (ships track based on AIS data) on estimation of general population parameters. Too many trials for each estimated point lead to prolonged study, to few trials can no ensure the desired accuracy and reliability of inference. Passages of ships under the Øresund Bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark were analyzed. The conclusions can be used as directives for researches on traffic flows on open and restricted waters

The following paper presents an analysis of the number of accidents, injuries and deaths over the last years. Accident trends have been identified in Poland with reference to different seasons. It includes an analysis of statistical data on both the number of vehicles, type of accidents occurring on roads and their causes. The evaluation of the road accidents’ effects has been carried out

The ship domain – the area around the ship that should be clear of other vessels or objects – depends on many factors. In this paper authors present results of simulation research on ship domain determination. The influence of ship size on domain shape and dimensions in the restricted area have been analyzed. The method of determining ship domain is characterized. The results have been presented. The domains of ships of different sizes have been compared and conclusions formulate

Information about user’s position can be obtained from specialized electronic position-fixing systems, in particular, Satellite Navigation Systems (SNS) as GPS and GLONASS, and Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) as EGNOS, WAAS, MSAS. All these systems are known also as GNSS (Global Satellite Navigation System). As the number of GPS and GLONASS satellites visible by the user is sometimes in restricted area not sufficient, and these SNS cannot provide information about integrity, there is one service for civil users only etc., new systems, global as well as regional, must be constructed. The last years gave a rise to many important changes in the operational status and practical exploitation of all these systems. New SNS as Galileo in Europe and Compass (Beidou) in China, new SBAS as GAGAN in India and SDCM in Russia, new regional SNS as IRNSS in India and QZSS in Japan are actually under construction. Additionally the new satellite blocks as GPS IIF and III, and GLONASS K1 and K2, the new signals as GPS L5 and L1C, and GLONASS LC3OC and L1OC, the new services and possible applications of the future system Galileo are presented in this paper

Ro-ro vessels use shipside and shore ramps as roll-on/roll-off loading facilities. Baltic Sea has not tidal effects and water level did not change very much. In same time water level fluctuations in ports areas make difficulties to establish proper access to shore for ro-ro vessels during loading and unloading operations. Flexibility of ro-ro vessel-to-shore links pan is one of the key elements for optimization of ro-ro operations in ports. Feasibility outline of pontoon ramp potential, calculation methods and practical usage is studded and presented further in the article

The aim of the pilot and navigation systems is to provide an outline of the vessel according to the surrounding hydro-technical objects and other obstacles to navigation. The article presents the results of simulation studies, which aim was to examine the impact of ship’s waterline accuracy, presented in these systems, on safety and effectiveness of the manoeuvre

The paper presents the usage of mathematical theory of evidence in maritime and offshore applications. This paper brings together a collection of some research on the Dempster–Shafer theory of belief functions. By bridging fuzzy logic and probabilistic reasoning, the theory of belief functions has become a primary tool for knowledge representation and uncertainty reasoning in expert systems. This paper can serve as the authoritative reference in the field of evidential reasoning and an important archival reference in a wide range of areas including uncertainty reasoning in artificial intelligence and decision making in maritime and offshore applications, in management, engineering and transport, in marine shipping, coastal management, navigation, surveillance, monitoring and observation. In particular the paper describes uncertainty reasoning approaches to decision making in maritime and offshore applications, possible applications in safety-based assessment, Coastal Management Expert System, mathematical theory of evidence in marine navigation, the optimisation problem of monitoring stations distribution and finally the facility location and location science

This article presents basic principles of using simulation research in marine traffic engineering and describes a simulation method of waterway design. The author indicates the most common errors made when the procedures of simulation research are not followed, despite advanced ship handling simulators used, which makes it impossible to satisfy the criterion of conformity between the examined system and its model. Practical use of results thus obtained leads to the breach of safety criteria or overdimensioning of waterway system. The presented simulation method of waterway design has been developed by this author. Applying the procedures of the method ensures that the mentioned conformity criterion is fulfille

Evaluation of accuracy of position coordinates’ determination in respect to floating marks, with free adjustment method applied, has been a target of the paper. General theory of geodesic adjustment – classical one based on least squares method and free adjustment – is presented in its first part. Main part contains description of the research. It was conducted based on geometric navigational structure which elements had been formed by beacons placed in the Bay of Gdańsk. It consisted in simulating results of measurements made in respect to marks of this structure (bearings and distances) and calculating the position coordinates based on them, as well as its accuracy. The calculations were made with the method of classical geodesic adjustment and free adjustment applied. Discussion about obtained results of the research and general conclusions are given in the ending part of the article

In this article an integrated system for dynamic under keel clearance (UKC) assessment is presented. The system was created to improved navigation safety and economic effectiveness in Polish ports. In this paper principle of model operations and utilization with modern, available mobile devices in integration with wireless data transmission technology was introduce

Preliminary outcome of the tests of laser distance measurement modules being a part of the PNDS system (Pilot Navigation \& Docking System) developed within the OPIE project (Operational Programme Innovative Economy) in Maritime University in Szczecin are presented in the article. The tests were carried out in laboratory conditions and the actual conditions which may occur during the system’s operation. The modules of the digital laser distance meters available on civilian market were compared. Statistical analysis comparing the accuracy of the laser distance meters was presented and based on it, their general effectiveness was evaluated making part of the preliminary prototype of the PNDS system

This paper presents a study of ships passing distances in coastal waters based on data from the AIS. Examinations are designed also to work towards the development of probabilistic domain that is an area in which the navigator is trying to keep free from other vessels. This article has been hypothesized for the distribution of ships passing distances from which you can build a probabilistic domain. The article summarizes the studies for three types of ships: tankers, passenger ships and cargo vessels and is comparing the shapes of domains for each of them in three situations: overtaking, crossing, vessels on the opposite courses. Studies were carried out in the Gulf of Pomerania

Tropical cyclones tracks on the North Atlantic basin were categorized (years 1989–2009). Standard environmental patterns were used. Authors took into consideration cyclones motion parameters and their changes. Recurving, left-turning, nonrecurving, looping and erratic tracks were describe

The described in literature components validity measures (the order of the smallest cross section measurement of streams, number of occurrences of events in the Fault Tree, Birnbaum, Veseley-Fussell’s measures, the potential of reliability improvement, Lambert’s measure ...) relating mainly to the concepts of reliability and reliability structures is characterized. Concepts of studying functional structures of complex technical systems are presented. Directions and the amount of streams of energy factors flow in the systems will be analyzed. The analysis will be performed for the so-called dynamic functional structures. The validity and importance of the component in the system is assessed on the basis of the number of streams of energy factors which flow to and from the component. The greater the number of those streams, the more responsible for the operation of the system in this state is the component

In the paper the priority of technical means and methods of navigation at contemporary seagoing ship was discussed. The role of magnetically compass and gyrocompass at the condition of contemporary ship was described. Effectiveness of gyrocompass and magnetically compass from point of navigation and economy was analyzed. The result of analysis is reflected at the recommendation for navigators and managers of ship’s company

Using laser rangefinders or other distance measuring tools offers an opportunity to create new ship waterplane position finding algorithms in restricted areas. The achieved by such system redundancy of positioning system will affect on ship’s safety and influence navigation which is dominated by one system (GPS and its derivatives). This paper is focused on developed optimization gradient algorithm and its improvement, algorithm with random start position

This article deals with issues relating to the evacuation of people from large passenger ships. Factors affecting the safety of passenger ships at both design and operational stage are described. The vital regulatory documents concerned with evacuation from ships are indicated. A concept of seeking an optimized evacuation plan at the design stage is presented. It aims at shortening the time of possible evacuation and at current on board planning of evacuation, taking into account inaccessibility of some escape routes

Maritime surveillance from space is useful for many applications, such as fisheries control, maritime border control and maritime security. A new generation of satellite-borne Synthetic Aperture Radars is able to provide resolutions of down to 1 meter. In the case of maritime targets, however, their motions lead to blurring in the SAR images, so these high resolutions cannot be attained. Scientific research into how to surmount the existing limits on the use of high-resolution images for maritime surveillance would be of great utility. In this context, high resolution SAR data were collected from ships that have been fitted with motion sensors in order to understand vessel motion impact on detection and recognition capability

PISCES II is a simulator designed to conduct research and training related to the rescue operation in the event of an oil spill on any of the world region. The program includes a built-in mathematical model, enables the oil spill of crude oil to observe the interaction in user-specified external conditions. This paper presents the results of the analysis of mathematical model simulation Pisces II, the behavior of the oil slick in selected hydrometeorological conditions

Modeling of ship motions in waves concentrates in most applications on the response amplitude operator (RAO). This mathematically not demanding method of analysis is very attractive, but loses some essential information in certain situations. The objective of present contribution is to establish and investigate preliminary foundations for a seakeeping model as optimal for under keel clearance (UKC) estimation. A special attention was devoted to transients of motions, stationary harmonic motions, coupling between degrees of freedom, and the wave force transfer functions – all in the aspect of shallow water environment

The paper describes the main directions of gas turbines improvement in terms of application of the cascade pressure exchange rules for air compression in the machine’s working cycle. The final calculation results of the four variants of the working process organization on the base of the two-stage gas turbine compression unit with inter-cooling and heating of the gas medium are presented. Opportunities and provision of energy efficiency increase of cascade pressure exchange gas turbine by increasing the maximum temperature of the circulation and recirculation of waste heat gas compression are shown

The paper introduces the results of research concerning modelling of ferry captain’s manoeuvres decision. The author’s probabilistic model has been validated with real time manoeuvres of the ferry m/f “Polonia” at the Ystad harbour by using Bayesian belief networks. Variables, quality factors, network example, model’s suggested settings of propellers and rudder for selected real manoeuvres have also been presented. Comparison to existing methods and models has also been presented. Finally, there are some conclusions concerning the described model. Are also included some proposed practical applications

The main task carried out by the Pilot Navigation and Docking System is to provide the navigation information for the pilot or captain, during the vessel berthing. The form of presentation of such information may be implemented using various methods. The form of lighting arrays located on the quay is the least technical complicated method to present the navigational parameters of manoeuvring vessel. Much more advanced way of communication is the delivery of the necessary data on the manoeuvring vessel’s bridge, using the selected wireless data transmission technology. The visualization is done via dedicated device’s screen or commercial laptop, tablet, smartphone or mobile phone. The remainder of this article describes the construction, specifications and algorithm of wireless data segment intended for the commonly used mobile devices

The paper presents the analytical assessment of main engine piston drawing out records and record of cylinder oil feed rates. Collated and analyzed the wear records of cylinder liners and piston rings of main engines installed in three ships on the basis of the measurements at main engine piston drawing out measured during dry dock main engine overhauls. An analytical data have been taken from operating records. Author presents a summary of the results of these surveys and analytical assessments made for selected three vessels (VLCC) with Main Engines B&W Man MC series.

Comprehensive climatology allows to specify not only the structure of the weather conditions, meaning the frequency of particular individuals, but also frequency of “favorable” or “unfavorable” weather, for example, for shipping and port operation. Comparison of “favorable” or “unfavorable” frequency of the weather types in Świnoujście have revealed that in the first decade of the twenty-first century, there was less of the latter than in the years 1971–1980. “Unfavorable” weather are primarily associated with the influx of air masses from northern and eastern sector, although there are among them also the western sector