A Public API Supporting Autonomous Navigation

Abstract

This paper presents a public API proposed for autonomous maritime operations where several moving and fixed objects are involved using wireless communication solutions. The API ensures that high-level data can be exchanged without knowing details of the underlaying implementation. The data will be available for 3rd party vendors to connect their applications and equipment to the proposed framework for data exchange. The high-level data covers information about the object's geometry, the object's uncertainty zone (position uncertainty zone), sensor data, communication solutions and different operational zones (restrictions) dependent on the actual operation and its states. A common data model defining the necessary data, its meaning and their relationships are needed to ensure correct usage of the data across applications and equipment from several vendors. In addition, required functions and services are defined based on the Hull-to-Hull pilot system developed in the Horizon 2020 project "Hull-to-Hull". The paper also presents a chat application that transmitts small messages between several ships by using the defined services and data formats.