Concept for Construction of Unmanned Ferry Lines on Russia’s Inland Waterways

This article considers the prospects of building highly automated ferry lines on the internal waterways of Russia. To do this, the authors used the engineering-cybernetical approach to determine the basic provisions of the concept for the construction of unmanned ferry lines. The key provisions of the concept account for the integration of unmanned ferry lines in the river information and communications triad based on the hierarchical principle: the corporate river information and communications service - the river information service - the automated ship-traffic control system. The authors consider the prospects of using unmanned ferry lines on rivers where the navigation and information support for the unmanned ferry can be provided using radio technical facilities covering both the points of departure and destination. The authors also reviewed the arrangement of unmanned ferry lines for situations where the departure point and the destination are far from each other. This type of unmanned ferry line is suitable for reservoirs or large lakes. Finally, the research work also provides a rationalization of the selection of the automation level for unmanned ferry lines following the terminology used by the work team for inland water transport of the Committee for the Inland Water Transport of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).