Improving maritime traffic safety by applying routes exchange and automatic relevant radar data exchange

The e-navigation strategy of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) aims to improve the safety of maritime traffic by increasing cooperation between several maritime stakeholders. The COSINUS (Bolles et al., 2014) project contributes to such a strategy by enabling an automated data exchange (observations, routes and maneuver plans) between ship-side and shore-side navigational systems, developing useful sensor fusion applications upon the new information available from data exchange and introducing new Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) to support the users of navigation systems. The project shows potential for improvement in maritime traffic safety by ensuring continuous awareness to all participants involved through sensor fusion applications, i.e. by providing all participants (mobile and stationary navigation systems) with a complete view at all times. These applications include detection of critical situations like radar shadowing areas, early and accurate prediction of potential collisions or closest point of approach (CPA) based on the exchanged routes, and improving the accuracy of radars by ensuring high quality data for obstructed or far away routes. The new HMI concepts introduced within the COSINUS project aim at highlighting critical maritime traffic situations. Thus, the users of such navigation systems supported with COSINUS facilities can easily detect such critical situations and react efficiently to avoid collisions, possible crowded areas and inefficient routes.