5.3 Sea markers

The autonomous vessel should be able to detect and correctly maneuver according to various sea markers. As there are numerous different kinds of sea markers in use around the world, a standard set is included in the simulator based on sea markers used in Norway.

• The pointed pole (1st from the left) indicates a shallow area.

• The flag always points towards deep water.

• The red lateral marker (2nd from the left) should be passed such that the marker is on the port side of the vessel, if it is travelling in the waterway’s main direction. The main direction is generally the direction traveling predominantly north or east. For simplicity, this will always be the case in the Challenge. The red lateral marker has a flat top.

• The free-standing shallow marker (3rd from the left) warns of a small shallow area that can be passed on all sides.

• The green lateral marker (4th from the left) should be passed such that the marker is on the starboard side of the vessel, if it is travelling the waterway’s main direction. The green lateral marker has a pointed top.

At the moment, these markers are not distributed around the Trondheimsfjord mode as they are in real life. They can still be used for testing, as they can be copied and moved around in the Unity editor. Additionally, these markers will often be bent with significant angles, which teams’ guidance systems should be able to handle. The maximum bending angle will be 10 degrees off its vertical position normal to the surface.