Avoiding collisions with other objects is one of the most basic safety tasks undertaken in the operation of floating vehicles. Addressing this challenge is essential, especially during unmanned vehicle navigation processes in autonomous missions. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the surface target detection possibilities in a water environment, which can be used for the future development of tracking and anti-collision systems for autonomous surface vehicles (ASV). The research focuses on identifying the detection ranges and the field of view for various surface targets. Typical objects that could be met in the water environment were analyzed, including a boat and floating objects. This study describes the challenges of implementing automotive radar sensors for anti-collision tasks in a water environment from the perspective of target detection with the application for small ASV performing tasks on the lake.

Bathymetric Electronic Navigational Charts (bENCs) contain only bathymetry data and can be used in applications such as underwater positioning, dredging and piloting. According to International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) standard S-57, Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) contain depth information with pure density of depth contours. Typical depth contours encoded by Hydrographic Offices are limited to 2, 5, 10 and 20 m. Availability of more depth contours in bENCs would allow the visualisation of a safety contour which is closer to users' specific needs, especially in restricted waters such as ports, lakes and rivers. Another problem is non – Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) navigation. bENCs could be used as reference data for UUV comparative navigation. This is called terrain reference navigation. This article presents the results from bathymetric data processing that was performed to convert data contained in bENCs into a reference for underwater comparative navigation. We use data obtained using a multibeam echo sounder to produce depth data with a horizontal spacing of 0·10 m that is suitable for use in restricted waters. The experimental data was collected in and around the Port of Gdansk, Poland.