RECKON · NAVIGATION STATE AND INTEGRITY
Know when you can trust the vessel’s position
A position on a screen is useful only while its source and accuracy remain suitable for the task. RECKON is the NAUTILUS module for vessel position, heading, speed and time, with source quality, age and uncertainty available to the operator and control software.
IN DEVELOPMENT · PILOT CONVERSATIONS OPEN
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01 / RECKON
A fix is the beginning of the assessment
RECKON checks GNSS input against the independent sensor data available on the vessel. Lost signal, disagreement and reduced confidence must be reported to the functions that depend on position.
Loss of signal, implausible motion, clock disagreement and inconsistent sensor data must change the integrity assessment. A last known position retains its age; it cannot silently become the current position shown to the planner or operator.
02 / RECKON
Bring the right sensors into a common state
Commissioned inputs may include GNSS, independent heading, inertial data, speed logs, radar or qualified visual observations. Each source carries timing, units, provenance, quality and the limits of what it can establish.
Some inputs can constrain absolute position. Others support relative motion, heading or hazard awareness. RECKON’s purpose is to preserve those distinctions as it supplies time-aligned state to HORIZON, COURSE and WATCH.
Actual sensor combinations and supported fusion behaviour depend on the vessel profile and validation evidence.
03 / RECKON
Make uncertainty operationally useful
The navigation model distinguishes trusted, degraded and denied states. Each function has its own requirements. A vessel may have enough independent heading evidence for a bounded heading function while lacking the position confidence needed for waypoint following.
WATCH uses the relevant integrity and age limits when assessing control. COURSE must work within them. Where the remaining evidence cannot support a permitted manoeuvre, the vessel follows its commissioned contingency.
The operator can see which functions remain available and why others have been withdrawn.
04 / RECKON
Put environmental information in its proper context
Charts, weather, tides, currents and bathymetry can inform mission planning through separately commissioned data adapters. Their source, licence, coverage, datum, resolution and validity must remain visible.
Live AIS supplies traffic claims that require correlation and plausibility checks. Forecasts and AIS do not establish the vessel’s own position. Bathymetric matching is only a candidate position aid where calibrated depth, tide and datum correction, distinctive surveyed terrain and validated uncertainty support it.
05 / RECKON
Improve the quality of every downstream decision
HORIZON needs valid true heading to qualify an absolute bearing. COURSE needs a state estimate suitable for the manoeuvre it proposes. WATCH needs current navigation integrity when assessing whether that action remains permitted.
Those modules use the same state record, including its source and age. A stale heading or disputed fix therefore stays visible wherever it affects a decision.
06 / RECKON
Prove the operating envelope before extending it
Tell AIC which sensors are aboard and where GNSS becomes unreliable. A pilot can then test the navigation functions you need against a reference, including sensor loss, disagreement and stale data.
RECKON is in development. GNSS-denied operation and alternative positioning require deployment-specific evidence; the architecture does not establish universal navigation performance.