A Simulative Comparison of Ship Domains and Their Polygonal Approximations

The paper investigates the impact of a precise ship domain shape on the size of collision avoidance manoeuvres. The considered collision avoidance manoeuvres include both course and speed alterations. Various ship domains are compared with their polygonal approximations, which vary in the number of points of a domain contour and placement of these points. The best of all considered approximations is determined in the course of simulation experiments performed for head-on, crossing and overtaking situations. The chosen number and placement of contour points combine precision of domain approximation with reasonable computational time.