Network Shortest Path Application for Optimum Track Ship Routing

摘要

The United States Navy Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) community routes ships for weather evasion using advanced meteorological modeling and satellite data, but lacks a tool to enable fewer ship routers to make better routing decisions faster. Limited resources and rising costs are affecting the frequency and duration of current naval operations. The Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, has ordered the community to find efficiencies and automation possibilities to meet lower manning levels, reduce waste, and increase savings. Outside of the Navy, Ocean Systems Incorporated in Alameda, California, developed the Ship Tracking and Routing System (STARS) software package to calculate optimum sea routes based on weather model data. However, METOC ship routers are reluctant to adopt this complex software. To help solve this problem, the author modeled Optimum Track Ship Routing (OTSR) for U.S. Navy warships using a network graph of the Western Pacific Ocean. A binary heap version of Dijkstra's algorithm determines the optimum route given model generated wind and seas input. To objectively assess the model, test cases using recent model data and historical case comparisons were run. The results of these tests show that the author has successfully devised a network ship routing model that solves optimal path problems using a modified version of Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm and a basic ship response function. The model avoids adverse weather and solves the least-time path to a destination. It calculates useful time, distance, and fuel consumption metrics to quantify routing decisions. The model also demonstrates that manual routing techniques involving numerous calculations and chart plotting can be automated and solutions generated in milliseconds. He has identified how the results could be used by ship routing personnel to assist in analyzing alternatives and aiding ship routing decisions.