Automated ICT Systems in Inland Waterways by Developing a Multiflow River Information Services System

The objective of any River Information Services system is the safe, efficient and environment friendly transport of men, materials and machinery in inland waterways, including canals, lakes and backwaters. Transport should be safe with minimum injuries, fatalities and accidents. It should efficiently maximise throughput and effective capacity of waterways and carrying capacity of vessels, reduce travel time and costs and should efficiently link between transport modes and terminals. Environment hazards like polluting emissions and oil spills due to illegal actions or normal operations should be avoided.

The RIS can be categorised into various information levels like fairway information, tactical and strategic traffic information, traffic and transport logistics management information, statistical information, calamity abatement information, tariff information and information for law enforcement. The various services and their functions are interlinked with multiple users and various levels of operation. Because of this, information flow is multilevel for multiple users. In RIS systems, the RIS personnel evaluate the various data and make decisions based on personal experiences and similar business situations and then disseminate information to multiple users. Human errors in such a situation can lead to accidents with catastrophic effects like loss of business, loss of vessels and even loss of lives. In such situations computerised information processing systems can play a significant role in improving safety and security in Inland Water Transport (IWT). Here the human element is replaced by Automated River Information Services (ARIS) system .Since the information flow in RIS systems is multilevel and there are multiple users, complexity of information processing and dissemination is of a higher order. As an improvement on existing RIS systems, this paper proposes the development of Automated River Information Services system.

It is an interactive software based system intended to make decisions compiling useful information from raw data, documents and business models to identify and solve problems. In this system, human intervention is substituted by an Artificial Intelligence system which is fully automated, leading to better efficiency and security of operation. ARIS architecture has been developed and described in this paper. This software will prove useful in the IWT sector, especially when many countries are moving towards eco-friendly means of transport, according higher priority for Inland Water Transportation