With 3D-printed autonomous craft set to transport athletes and visitors around Paris at the 2024 Olympic Games and electric ferry crossings potentially set for the Thames within the next couple of years, you could be forgiven for claiming that the maritime sector is leaving other transport industries behind.
Radar has been used in by mariners for more than 80 years, complemented more recently by wider sensor technologies, for an abundance of applications.
It’s vital in navigation, enemy detection and obstacle obstacle detection for ships, swimmers, kayaks, buoys, birds and a host of other obstacles such as bridges and blue economy infrastructure our seas and waterways now house within a specified radius.
Today, plans such as those in Paris and on the Thames are showing how maritime is continuing to lead in innovation and technology, and having a far-reaching impact.
Radar continues to be the critical navigation and obstacle detection technology in maritime.
Most systems use frequencies in the S-band and X-band ranges. S-band, operating at 3GHz, offers a range of 74 kilometres (40 nautical miles), while the X-band, at around 10GHz, provides superior target resolution and high-resolution imaging with a wave length of 3cm.
The emergence of W-band radar, operating at 76-77 GHz, presents a notable advance in imagery and accuracy, in particular for applications such as dynamic positioning, situational awareness, collision avoidance and autonomous berthing.
The new generation of W-band radar brings even further advances with cm-level resolution for exceptional imagery, a 1,000m range for even greater situational awareness and a 4Hz update rate bringing updates to the crew in almost real time and regardless of rain, fog and glare.
It’s for these reasons that W-Band radar is increasingly being deployed near shore, on inland waterways and for navigating offshore infrastructure – such as wind farms – and latterly for the consumer ‘water taxis’ mentioned before.
How is high-resolution radar shaping innovation?
While high-res radar is improving safety on the waterways for both autonomous and manned vessels, particularly around collision avoidance, to navigate autonomously in busy waterways relying solely on GNSS and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) isn’t sufficient.
These technologies lack the precision needed for such environments, especially when GPS signals weaken and IMU drift compromises accuracy. Integrating a perception-based system is vital for dependable positioning.
Traditional sensors like cameras and lidar fall short of meeting the stringent centimetre-level positioning demands, particularly in adverse weather. W-band radar offers high resolution, extended range and resilience to weather conditions.
Leveraging high-frequency radar is crucial for enabling autonomous navigation in intricate and crowded water channels.
Why is centimetre-level positioning so important?
The solution to the centimetre-level positioning challenge in congested waterways may lie in high-frequency radar. Emerging technologies, particularly W-band radar, hold the potential to combine the best of both worlds – offering the resolution of Lidar, while retaining the range and robustness of radar.
High-frequency radar systems operating in the millimetre-wave spectrum can deliver remarkable precision, detecting even the smallest of objects with exceptional clarity.
This makes these 360° radar sensors ideal for large-scale perception-based positioning due to their inherent ability to provide multiple highly accurate detections over a large range and field of view. These detections are stable over all weather conditions and are not influenced by lighting conditions, meaning maps maintain integrity over a longer period as the environment changes.
The resulting detailed detections from small navigations buoys, jetty pylons and harbour wall details enable features to be clear so as to describe the location.
The need for autonomy
Achieving precise positioning is not just about ensuring operational safety; it is also concerned with streamlining navigation in congested areas, optimising traffic movement and reducing the potential for collisions. This must be addressed to unlock the full potential of autonomous marine operations and as our inland waterways become busier, the need for autonomy increases.
Passenger and car ferries require the whole suite of sensors, not least to navigate very busy waterways along rivers like the Thames.
W-band radar is also fuelling innovation within vessels such as hydrofoils, which are stable, but fast, so need robust collision avoidance technology in place.
Out in the open sea, offshore support vessels are relying upon W-band radar for dynamic positioning to keep a steady berth alongside infrastructure such as wind farms and oil rigs.
The maritime sector is undeniably making waves in autonomy. Its capacity for real-time obstacle detection, collision avoidance and positioning is critical in enhancing situational awareness and overall safety. Indeed, much of this is now deployed across many other modes of transport, particularly in mining, construction, and farming, in addition to the emergence of self-driving cars on our roads and unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, in our skies.
*Navtech Radar innovates with radar to deliver highways safety, critical national infrastructure security and industrial automation. Navtech is a member of ITS America.
