Sigran On the ‘bridge of the future’ – virtual reality as navigational tool

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/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Increased maritime shipping is adding to existing problems of navigating narrows, commercial lanes, coastal zones, etc. Optimal use is not being made of the extensive information available on board today’s ships. The array of electronic aids provided by equipment on the bridge, such as radar and radio, requires the deck officer to concentrate on and synthesize the resulting data, often forcing him to turn his attention away from observing the ship’s external surroundings.

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/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} SIGRAN is an augmented reality (AR) navigation tool that involves superimposing a 3D virtual model on a user’s real-time, natural perception of reality. The AR concept is designed to enrich perception of the real world by adding virtual elements that are not normally perceptible. SIGRAN offers a system with adjustable parameters, embedded within current navigation systems, which will ensure the deck officer monitoring external conditions has a simplified and easily understood display of the ship’s navigational and mission-related data, without interrupting any of the essential operational procedures of the vessel. The system will provide bridge crews with a revolutionary navigation tool that relies on 3D GIS coupled with a module for selecting the necessary navigational support data and for displaying them using innovative AR technologies, such as mobile screen, display binoculars and glasses. The SIGRAN system will, moreover, improve management of bridge crew stress in conditions of reduced visibility – fog, poor visibility, darkness, etc.

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/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} The project will, in its first phase, lead to a pre-industrial production prototype that will provide the user on the bridge with images of the ship’s immediate surroundings, captured using an on-board camera and augmented by synthesized virtual information taken from cartographic data and ship sensor measurements. In its second phase, the project will integrate virtual information directly into the user’s perception of reality (AR direct vision).

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/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} SIGRAN anticipates the ‘bridge of the future’ and will seek to resolve one of the key problems of augmented reality, namely that of synchronising the real world in movement with the virtual world, a process that requires the viewpoint of the observer, his position, his movements and his sightline to be calculated at every moment, and an easily interpreted image to be displayed within his field of vision.

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Increased maritime shipping is adding to existing problems of navigating narrows, commercial lanes, coastal zones, etc. Optimal use is not being made of the extensive information available on board today’s ships. The array of electronic aids provided by equipment on the bridge, such as radar and radio, requires the deck officer to concentrate on and synthesize the resulting data, often forcing him to turn his attention away from observing the ship’s external surroundings.

SIGRAN is an augmented reality (AR) navigation tool that involves superimposing a 3D virtual model on a user’s real-time, natural perception of reality. The AR concept is designed to enrich perception of the real world by adding virtual elements that are not normally perceptible. SIGRAN offers a system with adjustable parameters, embedded within current navigation systems, that will ensure the deck officer monitoring external conditions has a simplified and easily understood display of the ship’s navigational and mission-related data, without interrupting any of the essential operational procedures of the vessel. The system will provide bridge crews with a revolutionary navigation tool that relies on 3D GIS coupled with a module for selecting the necessary navigational support data and for displaying them using innovative AR technologies, such as mobile screen, display binoculars and glasses. The SIGRAN system will, moreover, improve management of bridge crew stress in conditions of reduced visibility – fog, poor visibility, darkness, etc.

The project will, in its first phase, lead to a pre-industrial production prototype that will provide the user on the bridge with images of the ship’s immediate surroundings, captured using an on-board camera and augmented by synthesized virtual information taken from cartographic data and ship sensor measurements. In its second phase, the project will integrate virtual information directly into the user’s perception of reality (AR direct vision).

SIGRAN anticipates the ‘bridge of the future’ and will seek to resolve one of the key problems of augmented reality, namely that of synchronising the real world in movement with the virtual world, a process that requires the viewpoint of the observer, his position, his movements and his sightline to be calculated at every moment, and an easily interpreted image to be displayed within his field of vision.