Patent Application
20220198342
The present invention relates to a method and device for detecting mooring and for monitoring a navigable area. It applies to the field of boating, in particular pleasure boating.
In yacht harbors, neither the harbormaster's office nor the boat owners have real-time visibility of the berths available. A manual visual survey is generally made on a daily or weekly basis. This practice, which is slow and only daily or weekly, has a number of drawbacks. Firstly, this represents a financial loss for the harbormaster's office due to the non-optimization of places and to the staff needed. Secondly, the port's resident boat owners are not rewarded for declaring their absence and freeing their berth, so that only about 10% of them do this. Lastly, the residents on stopover are faced with an apparent shortage of available places due to manual management. As a result, the stopover request procedure is archaic, ineffective and time-consuming.
The steady rise in the number of boats in operation increases the scale of these problems.
Today, yacht harbors are confronted with a twofold challenge: first, to encourage boat owners to sail their boats, or have them sailed, and, second, to optimize mooring places so as to limit the stationary boats and be able to accommodate visiting boats on the available rings.
However, harbormaster's offices have no precise knowledge of either the places available or the level of departures (or absences). It is therefore very difficult, even impossible, to have real-time management of the movements (entrances/departures) of boats, and thus of the availability of rings, especially in the high season. This results in a significant loss of earnings for the ports. Similarly, the boat owners have no incentive from the harbormaster's office to sail and free their place, and there is often no difference in yearly fees between a stationary boat and an active pleasure boat that makes frequent departures and often frees up its ring.
The present invention aims to remedy all or part of these drawbacks.
To this end, according to a first aspect, the present invention envisages a device according to claim 1.
Thanks to these provisions, boat movements in the monitored navigable area are detected automatically and then, by interrogating users of moving boats, a duration of the boat's presence or absence is determined. These responses from the users make it possible to assign places, or rings, to boats entering the navigable area.
In some embodiments, the detection means comprise:
In some embodiments, detection means are mounted on a buoy and/or detection means are mounted on a pontoon.
In some embodiments, transmission means utilize the LoRaWAN protocol or GSM protocol.
Thanks to these provisions, the transmission is performed over a distance of more than one hundred meters and uses a low amount of energy.
According to a second aspect, the present invention relates to a method for monitoring a navigable area, which comprises:
As the particular features, advantages and aims of this method are similar to those of the device that is the subject of the invention, they are not repeated here.
Other advantages, aims and features of the present invention will become apparent from the description that will follow, made, as a non-limiting example, with reference to the drawings included in an appendix, in which:
The present description is given in a non-limiting way, each characteristic of an embodiment being able to be combined with any other characteristic of any other embodiment in an advantageous way.
It is now noted that the figures are not to scale.
The invention aims to provide a port solution that helps the harbormasters' offices to identify the entrances and departures in real time in a port so as to communicate more easily with its boat owners, boost tourism and improve the profitability of the port by optimizing the occupation of places.
For the boat owner, it is a simple, fast tool to obtain information before a departure, sail in complete safety, declare his absence while making savings when his place is reused for another boat's stopover.
In other terms, it consists of providing yacht harbors with solutions allowing them to meet their need to identify boat movements so as to optimize the free mooring places, in order to increase their stopover capacity, optimize the places available or better manage the billing of places to owners, based on the movements of the boats in question.
The present invention uses various technical solutions, from the installation of beacons in the boats and passage terminals at the entrance to the port, through to mobile applications that require no installation on board boats. In all cases the system is integrated in a harbormaster office software system, so the harbormaster's office can know in real time which mooring places are available or empty, and the envisaged duration of availability.
In some embodiments of the invention no additional installation is necessary in the port or on the boats. Only a specific software system, or access to a specific software system, has to be installed in the computer system of the harbormaster's office through a web access. This software system is interfaced with the existing management system. Connected to a mobile application for boat owners, the system is based on detecting the geographic position (for example, via a GPS (Global Positioning System, registered trademark) receiver) of a communicating portable terminal (typically a mobile telephone) of the user of each boat when the boat leaves or enters the approach channel to the port, and only in that location. There is therefore no permanent tracking of the boat owner.
In these embodiments, the user of a boat downloads an application onto his mobile telephone. When he declares an absence, he gives an envisaged return date by means of this application, for example by replying to the question asked on the screen shown in
If this initial declaration is not made, he must operate the geolocation system when his boat moves. The geographic position is compared to a monitored area, for example an area covering the port's channel and, if the position of the boat indicates that it is in the channel, a message is sent, for example in the form of a short message (or SMS, for Short Message System) or a mobile data message sent by the application to a server, which retransmits it to the harbormaster's office.
Preferably, the application detects the direction of travel in the channel, for entering or leaving the port. In the case where the boat is leaving the port, the user is asked when he envisages returning to the port, for example by replying to the question asked on the screen shown in
The user can change the envisaged time of his return to port at any time, for example by using the screen shown in
When the application determines that the boat is entering a port that is not the boat's home port, the user is asked, in the same way, about the envisaged duration of presence in the port, so that the harbormaster's office can assign him:
In other embodiments, and possibly in addition to means utilized as described above, equipment can be added to improve the precision of the localization of the boat, which take the form of:
A declaration of absence made by a boat owner is the subject of automatic processing to update the available places and allow departures to be anticipated. For stopovers, the application displays the available stopover places and the resident places, i.e. assigned to a boat, that are temporarily available.
With the harbormaster's software system, the port team can:
The mobile application to be downloaded onto a portable communicating terminal (mobile telephone, connected watch or tablet, for example) improves the service for boat owners, by providing them with information, weather reports, webcam images and news reports.
Before leaving, the boat owner can consult the weather and view the town's webcams in real time. He can make his declaration of absence beforehand in two clicks, or declare it when he leaves. On stopover, the boat owner is now directed to the tourist office of the destination. He can notify of an early return so that, if the place has been re-let, his harbormaster's office can make arrangements so that he will find his berth free when he arrives.
When the embodiment of the device according to the invention comprises at least one sensor, the mobile application remains preferential because directly interrogating the boat owner during departure makes it possible to anticipate the duration of absence and therefore the availability of the place.
The on-board sensor 52 on the boat can only capture the signals coming from terminals 54 installed in a port or also comprise a geolocation means, in which case it utilizes the operation described above for an application downloaded onto a communicating portable terminal.
On receiving a request from the terminal 54, the sensor 52 identifies itself. As the identifier of the sensor 52 is associated with a mobile telephone number 56, the harbormaster's software system 57 then, if the user has not declared his departure and his envisaged return date, causes an interrogation request 58 to be sent to the mobile telephone 56 of the user, to obtain this return date, as described with reference to
In this way, the sensors, terminals or a communicating portable terminal 56 of the user of the boat form means for transmitting information representative of detected movements. The harbormaster's office 57 comprises means 59 for transmitting a request 58 to the communicating portable terminal 56 associated with the user of the boat for which a movement has been detected. This request is intended to receive, in return, an envisaged duration of the boat's presence or absence in the navigable area 51.
These steps comprise, up to the departure of a user:
With regard to the embodiments utilizing presence detectors at the resident places of boats,
In some embodiments, the detection means at the pontoons, berthing or ring places (especially berthing buoys) comprise:
The detectors 84 include, preferably, several technologies among those using acoustic waves, especially ultrasonic (sonar preferably having a circular output cone having an opening angle of between 10° and 12°); light rays, in particular infrared; microwaves (especially in Doppler detection); light rays; or electronic tags. In some embodiments, the detector 84 comprises an on-board video camera followed by automatic shape recognition to detect the presence of a boat and also the identity of the boat by obtaining its registration number, name or other distinctive signs, and a comparator of shapes and distinctive signs with those of the boat normally resident. The lens of the video camera can be coated to overcome privacy problems in some markets. In some embodiments, a radio transmitter is on board the boat, and a pontoon sensor is facing the berth. This solution makes it possible to detect if a boat is present or not at the berth, and to capture the identity of the boat when it is moored at a place equipped with a pontoon sensor. The on-board radio transmitter sends a unique signal specific to each boat, enabling the resident boat or a boat from another port equipped with the same system to be accurately identified.
In the two types of detector, the information is preferably uploaded using radio waves in the Hertzian frequency, or via the mobile telephone network.
With regard to the harbormaster's office, the advantages of the utilization of the invention include, in operational terms, real-time visibility of the berths available, better management of berths and occupancies, automation of the absence declarations, anticipation of periods of absence, improved communication with the boat owners, and safety.
And, in financial terms, revenue is increased by increasing the number of stopovers, and optimizing the rate schedule (“Yield Management”).
In terms of human resources management, staff are assigned to tasks with a high added value, and fewer seasonal workers are required.
With regard to the boat owners, the advantages of the utilization of the invention include, in operational terms, improved services, information before a departure, information about the destination, simplified absence declaration, safety, receiving alerts (thefts, dangerous areas), and responsible boating.
And, in financial terms, savings by freeing his place.
The advantage of anticipating periods of absence means that a larger number of mooring places can be proposed, at any time, whether on an ad-hoc basis for boats making short trips or for longer durations for the places of boats departing for a longer time.
For example, if one resident boat is absent from February to July and a second resident boat from June to October, then the port has one additional place 9 months out of 12, and the rest of the time the visiting boat can be taken out of the water.
The port's total capacity can thus be increased, without any financially costly and uncertain expansion of the port's capacity.
With regard to detecting a boat's departure from the port, in some embodiments LoRa (Long Range) technology is utilized. Its main advantages are long range, low power, low data flow of the networks, wireless, geolocation without GPS, bi-directional and LoRaWAN standard.
LoRa is a radio protocol using the 868 MHz band. LoRaWAN is a standard, and LoRaWAN objects are compatible with each other and with the towns equipped with LoRa (Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Montpellier, Paris). A single antenna handles all connected object requirements. The LoRa protocol is bi-directional, i.e. the objects can be activated on demand, which means they can be less energy intensive. Geolocation without GPS is very precise with LoRa.
With regard to the on-board LoRa sensor, it is compatible with the IP66 standard for a maritime environment and is UV-protected. It has an autonomy of three years. An autonomous tracker enables localization and identification of passage. It has coverage of up to 200 meters.
A gateway antenna (“Gateway”) allows information to be uploaded via a multi-operator 3G mobile telephone network to the harbormaster's software system. This antenna is autonomous thanks to the solar panel. The data transmitted is made secure via a VPN-APN tunnel.
Each sensor records the tracker no. and the time. It sends the information to the antenna. The inner trackers operate on a regular basis and the departure tracker on a spontaneous basis.
With regard to the schematic for the uploading of information:
Precision Through the Association of Sensor/Mobile Telephone:
A boat owner equipped with the mobile application who leaves the port with his boat, which is equipped with a sensor, therefore receives a (push) message as he departs in order to find out his return date. A boat owner who is on another boat owner's boat does not receive this push message because there was no association of Application and sensor for validating the departure of the right boat.
With regard to an event concerning crossing through areas (active detection), when a boat changes area (entry or departure), detection of the change of area is automatically uploaded as an alarm.
With regard to an event concerning presence validation (passive detection), the sensors are configured to confirm their presence in the last known area regularly.
With regard to the embodiments with an on-board GPS chip solution, one schematic for the uploading of information is as follows:
With regard to the embodiments with boat presence detectors at the location of a pontoon (
The presence sensor can use different detection technologies, such as ultrasound, optical, microwaves, and upload the information via a public or private network of Hertzian radio waves using various protocols, such as LoRa, ZWave, Zigbee or Sigfox technology (registered trademarks). In this way, a smart ring can be created in the form of a tension sensor on the ring or mooring cleat/bollard. This information is sent to the antenna (gateway), which automatically sends it to the servers of the solution's operator, which makes it possible to display the availability or absence of a boat at this berth through the moorage map of the harbormaster's office software. Regularly, at midnight every Sunday, a copy of the week's log is sent by email to the harbormaster's office.
With Regard to the Boat Owner Application:
At the level of the harbormaster's office, this detection triggers:
A predefined length of time, for example ten minutes, after leaving the port, a message is sent to the application of the boat owner associated, in the memory, with the sensor that has been identified as leaving the port. This message notifies the owner of the boat's departure and asks him for the return date.
Based on the reply, the harbormaster's software system automatically frees the space for stopover for the declared number of nights away. In addition, a credit for the number of nights away is declared in the boat owner's profile.
Boat owner's side: selection of the period of absence to be changed, and changing the return date of the declared period of absence. Harbormaster's office side: automatic display of the berth's new period of availability for stopover, and automatic updating of the declared number of days away in the boat owner's record.
In addition, the boat owners' mobile application proposes the reception of alerts about the draft in the areas of sandbanks or port entrances, or when the user enters a restricted anchorage area or an area with no holding tank.
For the embodiments comprising on-board LoRa sensors, these can involve radio-frequency tags or IP 66 tags for marine environments. The tags are placed on the boats to be monitored. The more visible the tag (prominently placed), the more flexible the coverage is for all cases and all ports. Programming the frequency of data collection is performed using an IoT platform. The tags contain a lithium battery that can potentially be replaced (but requires the product to be removed and completely opened). The battery level is shown as a percentage in all the periodic frames; an alarm is transmitted at the end of its life.
They send to the gateway(s) on a regular basis, but can also send on a spontaneous basis in the form of an event-based alarm, such as the passage covered by a tracker configured for this.
The autonomous trackers enable localization and/or identification of passage. Autonomous trackers regularly sending Beacons. The range of coverage can be adjusted from two meters to approximately 200 meters. At least one tracker is installed at the exit from the channel (departure from the port) and one upstream on the inside, to determine the direction of passage.
The gateway is installed at the level of the harbormaster's office, or on a pontoon. It comprises a sealed housing, a battery and a solar panel charger, and is configured for installation without intrusion. The gateways are remote access points that can be used to reach the devices and the infrastructure in real time (reconfiguration, verification, inventory, etc).
With regard to the localization and the uploading of information on a regular basis:
a. the tags are placed on the boats;
b. at least one tracker is installed at the exit from the channel (departure from the port) and one upstream on the inside, to determine the direction of passage; The installation can be multiplied based on the width of the channel, and also on the radio constraints arising from the inclusion of tags on the boats. Other trackers may be installed in the port itself to offer macro-localization.
At every passage in the area of a tracker, the tag records the identifier of the tag and timestamps this event. Regularly (typically every four hours), the tag sends the latest presence frame(s) of the inner areas of the port covered by “trackers”. There can be multiple (and possibly roaming) gateways if the port is divided into several separate areas, for example, otherwise there is one gateway per port. If the boat is far out to sea during this transmission phase, the tag is not acknowledged and keeps these unsent elements for the next transmission.
For the periodic and alarm-based spontaneous uploading:
c. Same infrastructure as above, but the channel exit trackers are configured so that the tags detecting them send a spontaneous alarm to the gateway. As above, the positioning of another tracker upstream from the exit flows will also be indicated in this alarm, to distinguish between boats entering and leaving.
d. In this case, periodic sending continues and potentially enables confirmation of the data received spontaneously.
The platform managing the connectivity and objects operates in SaaS (Software as a Service) mode.
a. Scalable, modular data management platforms, decompartmentalization of flows between the objects and services.
b. Graphs, diagrams, maps, etc—you have dynamic dashboards for monitoring the activity of the passage terminals and counters, and view the uploaded data, threshold alerts received.
c. Creation of specific widgets according to the data you want to see and in what form.
d. Storage of data and access to the IoT platform in SaaS:
A boat owner equipped with the mobile application who is leaving the port with his boat, which is equipped with a sensor, would therefore receive a (push) message as he departs in order to find out his return date; and
A boat owner who is on another boat owner's boat would not receive this push because there was no association of application and sensor for validating the departure of the right boat.
With regard to configuration, only the port entry/departure zoner(s) will be configured as “active” (alarm mode on change of area), the other zoners will be “passive” (they are only seen in the presence frames if there is a change of area).
Thanks to detection by tracked area(s), and possibly on-board sensors on board boats, the present invention effectively resolves the problem of detecting free places and boats entering and leaving the port.
Detection in a Tracked Area of a Port is Carried Out by:
Then, there is an uploading of centralized data.
In some embodiments, the boat's passage is detected by detecting the boat's absence for a set of RFID, LORA or GSM cells.
The information is uploaded and then the boat owner is interrogated by means of the on-board software system (mobile application) when a departure is recorded by a sensor or the application through geolocation in the departure area, so as to know the boat owner's return date.
With what is shown in
In
In a variant, the detectors 104 comprise a video camera or optical sensor, for example transmitting and receiving infra-red waves.
In the embodiment 110 shown in
In the embodiment 120 shown in
In the embodiment 130 shown in
The principle is to use a single sensor for the buoy and a prism or mirror reflecting the wave in several directions successively. Reflection makes it possible to scan a wide field around the buoy 132.
In the embodiment 140 shown in
All the detection technologies work for the uploading of information, for example by radio transmission using LoRa channel 868 MHz.
In a variant, the sensor battery is powered by the oscillation of a magnetic pendulum, which creates friction energy by passing in front of a magnet equipped with an electromagnetic coil.
Generally, all the detection means described in the description regarding the pontoons and all the detection means described in the description regarding the buoys are interchangeable and make it possible to detect the presence of a boat close to a berthing member or attached to said berthing member.
These steps comprise, up to the departure of a user:
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1759958 | Oct 2017 | FR | national |
| 1762548 | Dec 2017 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FR2018/052627 | 10/22/2018 | WO | 00 |
