An End-to-End Framework from Scenario Generation to Simulation Execution
Assuring the Safety of Maritime Autonomous Surface Vehicles with SceneGEMS
Autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) must comply with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) to operate safely in shared maritime environments at open sea. While simulation-based testing is widely used to assess compliance, existing approaches lack a complete and scalable assurance workflow. Instead, they typically focus on scenario generation, simulation, or compliance monitoring in isolation.
SceneGEMS is a modular framework that brings these steps together into a single workflow. It integrates reusable subsystems for scenario generation, scenario execution, and monitoring within the WARA PS Core System to automatically generate diverse test scenarios, execute them in a realistic simulator, and monitor the behavior of the ASV during execution. The framework provides interactive visualizations, real-time feedback, and exportable assurance evidence for further analysis. It supports configurable simulation environments, communication interfaces, and vessel models.
Session Outline
1. Introduction
Brief introduction to autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) and the challenges of ensuring their safe operation in shared maritime environments. Motivation for the need for systematic safety assurance and why evaluating autonomous behavior requires more than isolated simulations or manually designed / historical test cases. Introduction to the objectives of the demonstration and an overview of the end-to-end assurance workflow that will be demonstrated during the session.
2. Context and motivation
Discussing the challenges of validating autonomous navigation systems in increasingly complex maritime traffic scenarios and explaining why manually designing simulation scenarios does not scale. This motivates the need for an integrated assurance workflow that connects scenario generation, simulation, runtime monitoring, and evidence collection. Introduction to functionally complete assurance suites. Introduction to the WARA PS Core System and how SceneGEMS extends it by integrating the reusable scenario generation, scenario execution, and monitoring subsystems into an end-to-end framework.
3. SceneGEMS overview
Presenting the SceneGEMS architecture. The end-to-end workflow is introduced, beginning with high-level scenario specifications, followed by automatic generation of functionally complete assurance suites, execution of scenarios in a realistic simulator, runtime monitoring of safety and COLREGS compliance, and finally the collection of assurance evidence. We also describe how the framework can be integrated with software-in-the-loop and hybrid configurations involving both simulated and real vessels.
4. Live demo
Tool walkthrough.
5. Applications within the WARA PS Core System
Discussing how SceneGEMS and the presented WARA PS subsystems can support a variety of applications like regression testing during control software development, continuous integration pipelines, hardware-in-the-loop and hybrid experiments, and the independent reuse of the scenario generation, scenario execution, and monitoring subsystems in other assurance workflows.
6. Future outlook and discussion
Open discussion of future directions for SceneGEMS, including support for heterogeneous scenarios like drones and rovers, larger multi-vessel scenarios, additional simulators, more advanced monitoring capabilities, and closer integration with assurance and certification processes for maritime systems. Exploring potential research and industrial use cases and other related tools / research / topics within the WARA PS. Discussing potential collaborations.
