PhD defence by Peter Nicholas Hansen

Supervisors

• Principal supervisor: Emeritus Mogens Blanke, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, DTU, Denmar

Assessment committee

• Professor Jinwhan Kim, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea
• Associate Professor Edmund Brekke, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
• Chair of assesment committee: Professor Ole Ravn, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, DTU, Denmark

Master of the Ceremony

• Associate Professor Hans Henrik Niemann, Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering, DTU, Denmark

Abstract
The potential impact of autonomous marine systems, affects many areas of society - from increasing the mobility of populations of smaller islands, more efficient transportation of goods, to environmental inspection and monitoring. Situational awareness is critical for marine autonomous systems because these systems need to perceive and interpret their environment accurately to make appropriate decisions and take necessary actions. Without situational awareness, autonomous vessels could be at risk of collisions, running aground, or other hazards, leading to accidents and potentially catastrophic consequences. The thesis presents a framework for situational awareness for autonomous marine systems. The framework increased the capabilities of the autonomous system to understand its surroundings, by incorporating the rules of the sea (COLREGs), both from its own perspective, as well as other vessels. The developed methods further allowed the autonomous system to understand the manoeuvrability of other vessels, allowing the system to operate in confined waters, such as fjords, channels and most Danish inner coastal water. The ability to reason about ambiguity of the perceived situation, i.e., which rule applies, allowed the system to be more conservative and take safer decisions.