Challenges to overcome limitations of human centric practices in celestial navigation at sea

Celestial navigation for position-fixing ships at sea has been practised for over two centuries, and the fundamental principles are the same even today. However, the mariner's interest has gradually eroded in practising celestial navigation at sea with the proliferation of satellite-based systems with better positional accuracy. The primary cause for neglecting celestial navigation at sea is limited dependence on manual observation of heavenly bodies. Computational celestial navigation methods have achieved near real-time calculation with advanced software. However, the accuracy of the computed position depends on the feed of manually observed altitude of celestial bodies. To revive the time-tested and proven celestial navigation at sea, this paper analyses the challenges of overcoming this human-centric observation. The paper explores ways and means to improve positional accuracy by advanced technology for auto-observation of celestial bodies to wean off these observational errors. Further, the article thrives to achieve an autonomous celestial navigation system enabling it as an alternate tool for position fixing at sea by focusing on the sole integration of automated observation devices with advanced algorithms-based software processing to augment positional accuracy apart from achieving instant determination of a ship's position at sea

Astronomy · Celestial navigation · Computer vision · Dead reckoning · Geodesy · Global Positioning System · Navigation system · Physics · Position (finance · Remote sensing · Telecommunications · Computer Science · Cruise Tourism Development and Management · Historical Geography and Cartography · Maritime Navigation and Safety · Artificial Intelligence · Geology · Software