Development of a High Fidelity Multi-Agent Maritime Simulator

The maritime industry has experienced significant growth in autonomous systems in recent years, with substantial research dedicated to developing diverse algorithms for the autonomous navigation of surface vessels. To thoroughly gauge the credibility of such autonomy algorithms often requires evaluation across a diverse range of scenarios. Due to the vast number of potential scenarios that necessitate testing, it is impractical to conduct all these tests in a practical manner. Furthermore, these tests are not one-shot endeavors and need to be evaluated with the changing maneuvering characteristics of the vessel as it evolves over its operational years. This paper introduces the concept of a novel multi-agent, adaptive simulator designed specifically for testing various autonomy algorithms for surface vessels such as path planning and collision avoidance. The key highlight of the simulator lies in its potential to progressively improve the accuracy of the hydrodynamic models of the vessels present in the simulation.