Short-term Drifter Position Estimation Based on Ship-generated Waves for Search and Rescue |
Yang Zhao1 
, Jung-Ho Kang1
, Kyung-Chang Lee2
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1Graduate Student, Department of Intelligent Robot Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, Republic of Korea
2Professor, Department of Intelligent Robot Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, Republic of Korea |
Corresponding author:
Kyung-Chang Lee, Tel: +82-51-629-6332, gclee@pknu.ac.kr
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Received August 26, 2025 Revised October 20, 2025 Accepted December 8, 2025 |
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© The Korean Society of Ocean Engineers
Open access / Under a Creative Commons License
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| Keywords:
Search and rescue, Drifter, Leeway, Ship-generated wave, Kelvin |
| Abstract |
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Accurately estimating the initial drifter position in man overboard incidents within the first few minutes after a maritime accident is critical for improving search and rescue efficiency. However, the conventional Leeway model, which estimates drift trajectories based mainly on wind and ocean currents, fails to incorporate wave effects generated by ships. As a result, it can lead to significant positional errors in ship-related overboard accidents. This study proposes an improved drift estimation model that integrates ship-induced surface velocities into the Leeway model. The ship-generated wave field was modeled using the Kelvin model, and the induced speed calculated based on this was reflected in the drift estimation process. Numerical simulations were conducted across various ship scales and speeds to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The simulation results demonstrate that, under identical ship speeds, larger ships generate stronger lateral drift displacements, while longitudinal displacements tend to decrease depending on the conditions. These findings confirm that accounting for ship-induced wave effects can significantly enhance the short-term accuracy of drifter position estimations. |
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