Enabling Assistance Functions for the Safe Navigation of Inland Waterways

Inland navigation and shipping are important pillars of the European Transport System. To support the skipper during safety-critical operations, precise position, navigation, and timing (PNT) data are required. This work discusses the role of PNT information for enabling inland waterway navigation-assistance functions, such as bridge-collision warning, mooring aiding, and automatic guidance. The real-time kinematic technique is developed to provide integrity information alongside reliable and centimeter-level-accurate PNT data. In addition, the transmission of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) correction data is investigated. Since GSM does not currently meet the availability and stability communication requirements along inland waterways, use of the automatic identification system (AIS) for data transmission is explored. The proposed navigation solution and the communication developments were analyzed in real time in challenging GNSS signal-degraded scenarios on the authorized inland waterway testbed. Despite the further developments required for the AIS communication infrastructure, it is shown that our system architecture can nearly meet the integrity and accuracy requirements for driver-assistance functions on inland waterways.