A Unified Fractal Processing Framework for Normalized AIS and ECDIS Ship Trajectories

The article presents a unified fractal approach to processing and analyzing ship trajectories based on AIS and ECDIS data. A comprehensive algorithmic pipeline is proposed, which provides time normalization, coordinate transformation, calculation of dynamic motion characteristics, and application of fractal analysis in sliding windows. This approach allows for the stable calculation of key parameters (course, angular velocity, deviation from the route) and detection of local changes in movement complexity that are not recorded by classical methods. The fractal indicators used (Higuchi, Katz, Petrosyan, DFA dimensions) demonstrate high reproducibility and resistance to typical navigation data shortcomings. The proposed framework is primarily intended for onboard and post-voyage analysis, supporting navigational performance assessment, trajectory reconstruction, and detailed investigation of vessel motion dynamics based on the records from AIS and ECDIS.