BlueNavi: A Microservices Architecture-Styled Platform Providing Maritime Information

Hongze Liu, Irena Jurdana, Nikola Lopac and Nobukazu Wakabayashi
Additional contact information
Hongze Liu: Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe 658-0022, Japan
Irena Jurdana: Faculty of Maritime Studies, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Nikola Lopac: Faculty of Maritime Studies, University of Rijeka, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Nobukazu Wakabayashi: Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe 658-0022, Japan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: Traditional methods of marine navigation are undergoing a revolution brought about by the almost universal adoption of the Automatic Identification System (AIS). AIS exchanges a wealth of navigational information among vessels and between ships to shore through Very High Frequency (VHF). With AIS data integrated into the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS), the identification and navigational information of surrounding vessels as well as aids to navigation can be reflected on the electronic charts in real time, despite some problems such as the low AIS carriage rate on small vessels where it is not mandatory and the high cost of ECDIS preventing such vessels from installing it. In this paper, we introduce BlueNavi, a lower cost but sustainable maritime information providing platform built with microservices architecture allowing flexible on-demand scalability and cross-platform adaptability. Applications served by BlueNavi can provide users with data either stored in a remote data center through the internet or received locally by devices connected to the station without the need for the internet. From our land test, we show that users with only an internet connection but without any AIS equipment can also obtain live AIS data collected by other stations. Conversely, with access to the internet, BlueNavi can also send data back to the land stations, enabling other ships to identify non-AIS ships as well. Through the live-ship test, we demonstrate that BlueNavi works well offline in cooperation with shipborne AIS equipment. We also look at some possible application scenarios for BlueNavi with other data sources and means of communication other than AIS and VHF that can be expanded to the platform. BlueNavi will enable inexpensive ship identification for small vessels and provide an extension of functionality to ECDIS for large ships.

Keywords: e-navigation; information platform; design; microservices architecture; maritime communication system; automatic identification system; maritime transport (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2173/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/4/2173/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:4:p:2173-:d:749178

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().