Determining Ship’s Position by the Celestial Altitude Difference Using the Least Squares Method

Nguyen Thai Duong, Luong Tu Nam

Abstract

Although obtaining the position of a ship by a celestial method is not very accurate by today’s standards, it is an independent method, especially for offshore navigation. In modern navigation, a ship will typically be equipped with two electronic chart display and information systems (ECDISs). Thus, celestial ship positioning will be a primary backup method. In some special situations, the requirement for the accuracy of the ship’s position by a celestial method is not as high as when modern navigational methods are being used. By traditional methods, a ship’s officers would observe, measure, calculate, and plot the lines of position on a nautical chart to determine the ship’s position. Recently, some studies have proposed frameworks to solve the celestial problem in determining the longitude and latitude of the ship using appropriate algorithms. Each method has its own advantages, disadvantages, and certain applicability in practice. This paper proposes a new method to fix a ship’s position by calculating the least squares of the altitude variations of celestial bodies. A program for calculating a ship’s position with high reliability and applicability based on the new algorithm was also constructed, demonstrating its effectiveness in practice.

 

 

Keywords: ship positioning, celestial navigation, altitude variation, least squares method.

 

 

 

 


Full Text:

PDF


References


MING-CHENG T. Genetic algorithm for solving celestial navigation fix problems. Polish Maritime Research, 2012, 19(3): 53-59. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10012-012-0031-5

VULFOVICH B., & FOGILE V. New ideas for celestial navigation in the third millennium. The Journal of Navigation, 2010, 63(2): 373-378. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0373463309990348

VAN-SUONG N., NAM-KYUN I. M., and QUANG-DAN D. Azimuth method for ship position in celestial navigation. International Journal of e-Navigation and Maritime Economy, 2017, 7: 55-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enavi.2017.06.006

CHIH-LI C., TIEN-PEN H., and JIANG-REN C. A novel approach to determine the astronomical vessel position. Journal of Marine Science and Technology, 2003, 11(4): 221-235. https://jmst.ntou.edu.tw/marine/11-4/221-235.pdf

ZHANG J., YANG J., WANG S., LIU X., WANG Y., and YU X. A self-contained interactive iteration positioning and orientation coupled navigation method based on skylight polarization. Control Engineering Practice, 2021, 111: 104810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conengprac.2021.104810

PIERROS F. Stand-alone celestial navigation positioning method. The Journal of Navigation, 2018, 71(6): 1344-1362. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0373463318000401

LUSIC Z. Astronomical position without observed altitude of the celestial body. The Journal of Navigation, 2018, 71(2): 454-466. https://doi.org/10.1017/S037346331700073X

NGUYEN V. S. A novel approach to determine the ship position with an azimuth of celestial body and factors of ship route. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 2019, 10(2): 1162-1167. https://iaeme.com/Home/article_id/IJCIET_10_02_113

INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION. International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW 78/2010). https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/HumanElement/Pages/STCW-Convention.aspx

BURCH D. Celestial Navigation. Starpath Publications, Seattle, Washington, 2010.

NGUYEN T.-D. Evaluation of the accuracy of the ship location determined by GPS global positioning system on a given sea area. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2020, 1515: 042010.

NGUYEN T.-D. Determining safety limitations and the frequency of determining vessel location when establishing marine bases on the Vietnam's sea areas. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2020, 1515: 042012.

NGUYEN T.-D. Determine the effect of distortion of Mercator chart, Gnomonic chart on maritime safety and method of navigation when using Gnomonic chart. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2020, 1515: 052080.

NGUYEN T.-D., & NGUYEN T.-D. Calculation of parameters for altering the ship’s course at sea using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2020, 862: 032097. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/862/3/032097

DMITRIEV V. I., GRIGORYAN V. L., and KATENIN V. A. Navigation and Sailing Direction. Morkniga, Moscow, 2009.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.