Generating certification evidence for the certification of collision avoidance in autonomous surface vessels

The United States Navy plans on fielding autonomous surface vessels in the near future. This paper presents a preliminary approach for certifying an autonomous surface vessel to complete a transoceanic voyage. In particular, this paper will decompose the rules currently outlined by the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea for avoiding a collision when two vessels are in sight of one another in international waters. These requirements are the basis for a specification that we examined to ensure it meets the requirements of the convention. We developed a protocol based on the analyzed specification that will ensure what the vehicle will function appropriately while operating autonomously. We then test this protocol using real-world scenarios currently used to certify human operators. Finally, we showed that if the protocol had been in place during a fatal mishap within the naval surface warfare community the collision would have been avoided. This paper describes how this protocol can be used as evidence for certifying an autonomous controller to complete a task reserved for a fully qualified ship’s Commanding Officer in the United States Navy.