Ship weather routing
The problem
Determine the route of a given vessel to go from one port to another so as to optimize various criteria, taking into account various environnemental factors.
Criteria to be optimized
Cost, time, greenhouse gas emissions, risks,...
Environnemental factors
Factors that influence the progression of the vessel: wind, waves, currents.
Control parameter
The routes are defined by the trajectory of the vessel on the sea, and by the value of a speed parameter.
This value is defined at each point of the trajectory.
It corresponds to the speed on ground of the vessel (SOG), the power level of the engine, the rotation speed of the propeller shaft, or any other parameter from which the duration and the cost of the progression can be deduced.
WRM
WRM is a metaheuristic approach for ship weather routing.
It searches optimized routes within a given time period, taking into account the effect of wind and waves on the progression of the vessel.
The speed parameter is the power level of the engine. See WRM page for animated examples of solutions.