Generation of Vessel Track Characteristics Using a Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (CGAN)

Abstract

Machine learning (ML) models often require large volumes of data to learn a given task. However, access and existence of training data can be difficult to acquire due to privacy laws and availability. A solution is to generate synthetic data that represents the real data. In the maritime environment, the ability to generate realistic vessel positional data is important for the development of ML models in ocean areas with scarce amounts of data, such as the Arctic, or for generating an abundance of anomalous or unique events needed for training detection models. This research explores the use of conditional generative adversarial networks (CGAN) to generate vessel displacement tracks over a 24-hour period in a constraint-free environment. The model is trained using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data that contains vessel tracking information. The results show that the CGAN is able to generate vessel displacement tracks for two different vessel types, cargo ships and pleasure crafts, for three months of the year (May, July, and September). To evaluate the usability of the generated data and robustness of the CGAN model, three ML vessel classification models using displacement track data are developed using generated data and tested with real data.