A Non-cooperative Game Approach for the Dynamic Modeling of a Sailing Match Race

This research introduces a spatio-temporal planning framework whose objective is to simulate a sailing yacht match race. The race is a duel in which strategy and tactics play a major role as sailors continuously have to take decisions according to wind variations and opponent's locations and actions. We introduce a decision-aid framework based on a stochastic game approach grounded on an action-oriented model that replicates yachts' behaviors. The objective is to replicate as closely as possible the respective behaviors and navigation decisions taken by yachts competitors. The proposed formalism has been implemented and is illustrated by a sample race example.