Abstract
In a current experimental automatic navigation system, an Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA for short.) is only a device to acquire navigation information about ships in a radar visibility. We are developing image processing techniques for calculating the distance to a target ship based on processing scenery pictures, which has originally been obtained from the visual images and used as navigation information by ship operators. This scheme is realized by measuring a minute angle between a horizon and a waterline in a scenery image and computing the distance to a target.
In this paper, we describe (1) a derivation of theoretical equations for calculating the distance to a target by means of the computed minute angle, (2) a verification of the efficiency of Mouse pointer ranging system, and (3) development of semiautomatic system assisted by image processing techniques, that is named Semiautomatic image ranging system.
We have tested correctness of the equations and the accuracy of their calculations by applying 148 pictures and 214 images to the systems.
