About the project
How can autonomous ships understand complex maritime traffic and recognise emerging navigational risks? This project will investigate intelligent maritime situational awareness using Automatic Identification System (AIS) trajectories and video, focusing on vessel behaviour, traffic interactions, trajectory prediction and uncertainty-aware risk assessment to identify potentially hazardous situations in busy and constrained waterways.
Safe autonomous navigation depends on more than detecting surrounding vessels. Autonomous systems must understand how vessels are moving, anticipate their interactions and recognise situations that may develop into navigational hazards. Achieving reliable maritime situational awareness remains challenging, particularly in busy waterways where vessel behaviour is uncertain and traffic conditions change rapidly.
This project will investigate intelligent maritime situational awareness and navigational risk assessment for autonomous shipping, using Automatic Identification System (AIS) trajectories and video as complementary sources of maritime traffic information. The research will first examine how vessel observations can be integrated to reconstruct traffic situations and provide reliable information on vessel movements and interactions. It will then investigate methods for understanding vessel behaviour, predicting traffic developments and identifying potentially hazardous encounters, including crossing, overtaking and head-on situations.
A central research challenge will be to account for uncertainty in vessel behaviour, trajectory prediction and risk assessment. The project will explore how these uncertainties influence the identification and assessment of emerging navigational risks and the interpretation of evolving traffic situations.
Potential methods include computer vision, trajectory modelling, machine learning, probabilistic risk assessment and maritime traffic simulation. The research will focus on ports and constrained coastal waters, with evaluation using historical traffic data and representative navigation scenarios. The project will contribute to intelligent maritime situational awareness and risk-informed autonomous navigation, supporting the development of safer maritime autonomous surface ships and future maritime traffic management systems.
The School of Engineering is committed to promoting equality, diversity inclusivity as demonstrated by our Athena SWAN award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns and those who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy, onsite childcare facilities, and offers a range of benefits to help ensure employees’ well-being and work-life balance. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and has been awarded the Platinum EcoAward.
