Structure and the Basic Operating Principles of Test Water Zone for the Testing of Unmanned and Self-Piloted Vessels

Abstract

Abstract Standard procedures for the assessment of vessel maneuverability cannot be used to the full extent for unmanned, self-piloted, and autonomous vessels. This is due to the fact that during field tests of these vessel types, the maneuvers resulting from control commands from the operator or the autonomous control system are hard to record. Therefore, these tests require modern technical solutions that would provide the proper accuracy of control parameter measurement. Field tests of unmanned, self-piloted, and autonomous vessels conducted using modern technical solutions for navigation should include the independent measurement of movements of the vessel’s bow and stern. The goal of this article is to develop a structure of a test water zone for safe field testing of unmanned, self-piloted, and autonomous vessels or robotized surface objects.