Marketplace 2016

John Shimell Polaris Consulting Ltd

A collaboration of expertise Polaris are a specialist technical

consultancy who provide research

and analysis, decision support,

cost engineering and project

support services in multiple

domains primarily in the Defence

sector.

Polaris is an SME with ~ 25

employees and offices in

Waterlooville and Bristol.

Project 1: A risk-based meta-heuristic model for real time route

optimisation in autonomous surface vehicles (ASV)

• background - existing

inefficient routing

algorithms

• our approach uses Ant

Colony Optimisation to

iterate through the

mapped environment

• modelled in MatLab –

outputs an optimal route

accounting for risk as

well as distance for the

given environment

• also capable of dynamic

obstacle avoidance

Success to date

• our approach was tested using the REMBRANDT shipping simulator at BMT Argoss

• simulation of a route exiting Portsmouth Harbour and transiting through the Solent and

simulation of 2 dynamic obstacles, successfully avoided

• demonstration to TRL 3

What next? 3 Real world – sea trials

• test on C-Worker5 provided by

ASV Ltd

1 Algorithm enhancement

• agent based approach

• vessel dynamics

• layered environment

• cost through time

2 Further simulation

• multiple dynamic unpredictable

obstacles

• additional mission areas

• differing environments – such as

weather

Achieve TRL6

“Technology model or prototype

demonstration in a relevant

environment”

Project 2: Research and development into maritime autonomous

navigation and mission effectiveness in GPS limited environments

• Positioning: developed a positioning method for GPS limited environments that uses the vessels sensors

and prior knowledge of the area

• Data fusion of sensor inputs to come to an overall calculated position and statement of confidence

Success to date • our approach was tested using the REMBRANDT shipping simulator at

BMT Argoss

• algorithm tested in a variety of simulated conditions across 40 min @ 5

knot voyages

What next?

Increasing Levels of Autonomy

1. Add more sensors (e.g. LIDAR) Greater positional accuracy within harbours and coastal regions

2. Test on C-Worker5 Accurate performance in a variety of real world conditions

3. Mission Decision Module Assesses whether a mission can be safely navigated given available sensors, environment and mission route

We’re looking for…

• collaboration to mature the approaches and

integrate with existing ASV systems via the

Maritime Autonomy Framework (MAF)

• opportunities to demonstrate the capabilities of the

system(s)

• opportunities to apply the system(s) beyond the

Surface Maritime domain