IP Library Granted Patent US 12710537
Granted Patent B2
US 12710537 · App. 18/085,547 · Granted Aug 18, 2026

Watercrafts environment risk real-time control and navigation system and its operation method

Inventor: Ming-Hsiang Hsu (New Taipei City, TW)
Assignee: SHIP AND OCEAN INDUSTRIES R&D CENTER
G01S17/89G05D1/0875G06T7/20
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12710537
App. No.
18/085,547
Granted
Aug 18, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

The invention provides a real-time control and navigation system for watercrafts environmental risk, which has a processor, a 3D radar, an inertial sensor and a global positioning system (GPS) configured on the watercrafts. The 3D cloud point detected by the lidar sensor is converted into a 2D point cloud, the processor converts the coordinates of the 2D point cloud according to the GPS, and the image algorithm calculates the position of the obstacle according to the real-time condition of the watercrafts detected by the inertial sensor, and then navigate the path of the watercrafts. The present invention can improve the position accuracy of the obstacles on the water, and the path navigation also improves the safety of the route by considering the required margin for the running of the watercrafts itself.

Claims (31)

1 . A watercrafts environment risk real-time control and navigation system, comprising:

a processor is configured on a watercraft;

a 3-dimension (3D) radar connects with the processor, and the 3D radar scans the obstacles around the watercraft and gets a 3D point cloud in real time;

an inertial sensor connects with the processor, and the inertial sensor detects a motion of the watercraft and acquires a watercraft motion information; and

a global positioning system (GPS) connects with the processor, and the GPS feedbacks a real-time coordinate of the watercraft in a plane navigation coordinate system;

wherein the processor, comprising:

a coordinate transform system stacks a projection of the 3D point cloud to form a 2-dimension (2D) point cloud, and the 2D point cloud is converted into a plane point cloud according to a real-time coordinate of the plane navigation coordinate system;

an image processing unit rasterizes the plane point cloud, and the image processing unit refers to the watercraft motion information to remove noise and optimize the obstacles via an algorithm, and the image processing unit generates a plane navigation map;

a path planning unit calculates an optimal path for the watercraft by the plane navigation map;

wherein the image processing unit comprises a filter module, and the filter module performs an erosion operation, a dilation operation, or combinations thereof;

wherein the dilation operation comprising:

a reference value is set by sea state;

a first dilation coefficient; and

a second dilation coefficient;

wherein if a value of the watercraft motion information is not over the reference value, the dilation operation performs the image operation with the first dilation coefficient;

if the value of the watercraft motion information is over the reference value, the dilation operation performs the image operation with the second dilation coefficient.

2 . The navigation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the 3D radar is light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor.

3 . The navigation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the watercraft motion information comprises a heading and a ship motion information.

4 . The navigation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the watercraft motion information comprises at least one 2D motion information.

5 . The navigation system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the 2D motion information comprises rolling, pitching, heaving, or combination thereof.

6 . The navigation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the real-time coordinate is a real-time geodetic coordinate of the watercrafts.

7 . The navigation system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the path planning unit plans the optimal path by Rapidly-exploring random tree algorithm (RRT).

8 . A watercrafts environment risk real-time control and navigation operation method, comprising:

a 3-dimension (3D) radar scanning obstacles around the watercraft and getting a 3D point cloud in real time;

3D point cloud projections being stacked to form a plane that forms a 2-dimension (2D) point cloud; wherein

the 2D point cloud is converted into a plane point cloud in a plane navigation coordinate system according to a real-time coordinate of the watercraft from a global positioning system (GPS) feedback in the plane navigation coordinate system;

rasterizing the plane point cloud;

acquiring a watercraft motion information by an inertial sensor;

determining a dilation algorithm in an image processing unit to use a first dilation coefficient or a second dilation coefficient according to the watercraft motion information;

using the erosion algorithm and dilation algorithm to remove noise and optimizing the obstacles, and generating a plane navigation map; and

calculating an optimal path for the watercraft by the plane navigation map.