Application of Genetic Algorithm to Ship Route Optimization in Ice Navigation

Global warming by excessive carbon emission has made the earth’s temperature increasing. It has led to worldwide climate changes and even unexpected natural disasters. On the contrary to those troubles, shipping and oil companies take the unfavorable conditions into new business chances to extend their business range because the rising temperature opens new money-making opportunities around the arctic area. This study’s purpose is to develop an effective and reliable ice navigation algorithm for arctic sea route. The authors employ genetic algorithm to find an optimal navigation path in the ice infested environment. The algorithm was tested on an arctic area map constructed from the ice prediction model, which consists of longitude, latitude, ice thickness, ice concentration, and terrain elevation data. The simulation result provides an economical and safe route within a reasonable computation time.