Sensor Data Quality in Ships: A Time Series Forecasting Approach to Compensate for Missing Data and Drift in Measurements of Speed through Water Sensors

In this paper, four machine learning algorithms are examined regarding their effectiveness in dealing with a complete lack of sensor drift values for a crucial parameter for ship performance evaluation, such as a ship’s speed through water (STW). A basic Linear Regression algorithm, a more sophisticated ensemble model (Random Forest) and two modern Recurrent Neural Networks i.e., Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Neural Basis Expansion Analysis for Time Series (N-Beats) are evaluated. A computational algorithm written in python language with the use of the Darts library was developed for this scope. The results regarding the selected parameter (STW) are provided on a real- or near-to-real-time basis. The algorithms were able to estimate the speed through water in a progressive manner, with no initial values needed, making it possible to replace the complete missingness of the label data. A physical model developed with the simulation platform of Siemens Simcenter Amesim is used to calculate the ship STW under the real operating conditions of a banker ship type during a period of six months. These theoretically obtained values are used as reference values (“ground-truth” values) to evaluate the performance of each of the four machine learning algorithms examined.