A comprehensive ship weather routing system using CMEMS products and A* algorithm

Abstract

We describe the implementation of a comprehensive software for Ship Weather Routing referred to as SIM- ROUTE. The A* pathfinding algorithm is used to optimize the sailing route as a function of the wave action. The aim of the software is to provide a comprehensive, open and easy tool including pre- and post-processing for ship weather routing simulations. The software is constructed considering the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) wave predictions systems which are available for free use. The code provides the optimized route and the minimum distance route together with additional modules to compute ship emission and safety on navigation monitoring. SIMROUTE has been tested in several cases using different CMEMS products over short and long distances. The comprehensive structure of the code enables it to be easily modified to include additional ship wave resistance models and the effect of the water currents and winds on navigation. SIMROUTE is also used for academic purposes, providing skills for ship routing optimization in the framework of standards of training, certification and watchkeeping (STCW) for competence-based maritime education and training. Due to the simplicity of its use, SIMROUTE is a good candidate for benchmarking strategies and inter-comparison exercises with advanced methods for ship weather routing. This contribution highlights the technical aspects, code organization and structure behind SIMROUTE, demonstrating its capabilities through examples of route optimization.