For more than two decades, Guidance Marine has been at the forefront of positioning technologies for the maritime industry.

Today, we remain the first to develop and deliver targetless marine localisation. Marking a major shift in how vessels understand, interpret, and interact with their surroundings.

As the maritime world faces increasing navigational challenges, our innovations continue to set new benchmarks for safety, efficiency, and resilience.

What Is Marine Localisation?

Marine localisation is the process of determining a vessel’s precise position and orientation relative to another object, rather than a global coordinate system.

‍A Growing Problem: GNSS Jamming and Spoofing

Over the last decade, the maritime sector has faced a rising threat: GNSS denial, including jamming, spoofing, and other forms of signal interference. Once considered rare and regional, GNSS disruption has now become persistent across several high‑traffic maritime zones.

For vessel operators, this presents serious operational risks:

• Loss of positional accuracy

• DP system instability

• Navigation uncertainty

• Greater dependence on manual control

• Increased cost and downtime#

As reliance on satellite-based navigation grows, so does the need for a resilient alternative.

Introducing Targetless Localisation

Guidance Marine’s targetless localisation technology offers exactly that: a robust, independent, and infrastructure-free positioning solution that does not rely on GNSS, transponders, or physical targets.

How It Works

Instead of tracking installed beacons or reflectors, the system uses environmental features such as:

·      Offshore structures

·      Coastlines

·      Vessels

·      Wind turbine towers

·      Built infrastructure

·      Complex environments like harbours

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The technology builds a real-time understanding of the surroundings and determines the vessel’s position and heading relative to these features.

In other words, we’ve shifted the paradigm from:

“Track a known target”

to

“Understand the surrounding environment.”

This flexibility makes marine localisation more adaptable, more intelligent, and significantly more resilient.

Why It Matters: Operational Benefits

For our end users - DP operators, offshore contractors, vessel owners, and renewable energy developers - the benefits are immediate and substantial.

1. Operational Resilience

Targetless localisation continues to deliver reliable reference data even when GNSS signals are compromised.

2. Infrastructure-Free Deployment

No need for fixed targets, transponders, or expensive permanent installations. The vessel can mobilise quickly and work anywhere.

3. Improved Safety

Enhanced situational awareness reduces risk during:

• Close-proximity operations

• Complex manoeuvres

• Heavy-lift and construction work

• Offshore transfer operations

4. Reduced Costs

With no target installation or maintenance required, operational costs decrease while flexibility increases.

5. Universal Applicability

Works across:

• Offshore wind farms

• Oil & gas environments

• Ports and harbours

• Subsea construction sites

• Vessel-to-vessel operations

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Where traditional navigation answers:

“Where am I on Earth?”

Localisation answers:

“Where am I relative to something else?”

That “something else” could be

• An offshore platform

• A floating production unit

• A wind turbine tower

• A subsea structure

• Another vessel

• Or even a mapped environment such as a port or harbour

For dynamic operations - including DP (Dynamic Positioning), close quarters manoeuvring, subsea installation, or offshore renewables work - this relative understanding is essential.

As the first company to conceptualise, engineer, and bring targetless marine localisation to market, Guidance Marine has set a new industry standard. Our experience in vision-based sensors and marine positioning underpins this innovation, and our commitment to safer, smarter marine operations drives us forward.

Guidance Marine are proud to be the people that made Marine Localisation possible.

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