474
close to the starboard side, which makes an
avoiding manoeuvre more difficult, the safety
index results in considerably lower values
comparedtoothersituations.
3.3 Fuzzymodelforestimatingacollisionindex
The collision safety index model will be based on
severalinputvariables(seesection3.1);CPA,TCPA,
bow
crossrange,encountertype,shownintentionsof
performing a collision avoidance manoeuvre,
environmental conditions, manoeuvrability and
trafficdensity.
Parameters that probably will affect the collision
safetyindex,butwhicharenottakenintoaccountin
this version of the model are “traffic in narrow
channels or shallow waters” and “traffic
in traffic
separationschemes”.
The calculation of the collision safety index is
realizedinfourdifferentmodulescombinedasshown
infigure6.
Figure6.Overviewofthecollisionsafetyindex.
First,thegeometricalprobabilityofaclosequarter
situationismeasuredbyafuzzyinterferencesystem
(FIS)usingCPA,TCPA,BCRandtheencountertype
as input variables. The output for the geometrical
probability is based on five different output
membership functions; totally unsafe, unsafe,
medium,safeandtotallysafe.
In
parallel, the environmental conditions are
definedbywind,current,seastateandvisibility(see
section 3.1.5). A second level FIS is using the
geometrical probability output, environmental
conditionsandshownintentionstocalculatea“two‐
vessel safety index”, defined by five membership
functions; totally unsafe, unsafe, medium, safe and
totally
safe.
TheoutputvalueofthisFISisusedtogetherwith
themanoeuvrability(thepossibilitytochangecourse
tostarboardduetoothervesselinvicinityorshallow
water)andtrafficdensityinathirdlevelFIStogeta
finalvalueofthecollisionsafetyindexforavessel.
3.4
Fuzzymodelforestimatingagroundingindex
Thefuzzymodelforestimatingthegroundingindex
consistsofthecalculatedunderkeelclearance(UKC)
as15differentinputparameters,oneinputparameter
describes the safety margin, one input parameter
describes the drifting angle and one parameter
describesthedriftingspeed(seesection3.1).
Thefuzzylogicforthegroundingindexisdivided
intofourdifferentmodules;thefirstmoduleusesthe
UKC points ahead (point 1, 2 and 9), safety margin
and drifting. This module consist at present state of
225rules(5x3x5x3)wherethemembershipfunctions
for each UKC point is
combined with the safety
marginandthemembershipfunctionsforthedrifting
speed.
Thenexttwomodulesareequal,hencemirrored,
oneforstarboard(point3,4,5,10,11and12infigure
2)andoneforport(point6,7,8,13,14,15infigure2)
UKC
points. These modules are similar to the first
module, hence with less rules implemented. For
exampleareUKCpoints10and11ignoredwhenthe
driftingspeedislow.
Thelastmodulecombinestheotherthreemodules
with the drifting angle and aggregates to a total
groundingsafetyindex.
4 VALIDATION
ANDRESULTS
Themodelwillbevalidatedthroughscenariosrunin
a ship handling simulator and assessed regularly at
one minute intervals by experienced simulator
instructors.The instructorswillbe told toassess the
traffic situation from a specific vessel’s perspective
(own ship). The scenarios are established to
correspond to
situations in the expert survey when
possible. The average value from the instructors’
assessments in the validation scenarios will be
comparedtotheoutputvaluecalculatedinthesafety
indexmodel.
5 CONCLUSIONANDOUTLOOK
The maritime safety index could be used in many
different applications, e.g. in the assessment of
safe
navigatingofaship,comparisonofsafetybeforeand
afterimplementation of a new or revised regulatory
regimes (e.g. implementation of new or changed
trafficseparationschemes),comparisonofsafetywith
or without certain navigational tools (e.g. route
exchangetoolswithintheSTMValidationProject).
Safetyisdifficultto
measureanditcanbedonein
variousways.Togetacompleteassessmentofsafety
levels in a certain situation, both numerical values
and human factors measures must be duly
considered. In the maritime safety index, only
numerical values have been taken into account. The
maritime safety index has been
designed only to be
used to measure safety by using a statistical
perspectiveortopointoutpossibleunsafesituations.
More information is needed for a complete
assessment.
Arefuzzyintegratedsystemsthebestapproachto
measure safety from a numerical perspective?
Experienced officers tend to assess the same traffic
situationindifferentways.Whileonewatch‐keeping
officer might assess the situation as relatively safe,