TPT Helm

Open-source maritime navigation & ship control platform.

TPT Helm is a web-based Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) written in Rust and TypeScript, built to replace proprietary, hard-to-patch navigation software on the bridges of cargo vessels. It renders nautical charts, integrates AIS (Automatic Identification System) feeds, plans fuel-efficient routes, and detects GPS spoofing by cross-checking inertial and celestial navigation.

Dual-licensed under MIT OR Apache-2.0. © TPT Solutions.

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Why TPT Helm

The bridge of a $100M cargo ship often runs navigation software built on Windows CE and 1990s C++. Proprietary vendors charge millions and take years to patch critical vulnerabilities — including GPS spoofing that can hijack a vessel. TPT Helm is open source so shipping companies can patch spoofing vulnerabilities in hours, small vessels can run professional-grade navigation on a $500 tablet, and navies can audit the code for backdoors.

Architecture

                ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                │              Web UI (React/TS)              │
                │  Chart · AIS Targets · Route Planner · Alerts│
                └───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────┘
                          WASM / HTTP       Satellite (Starlink)
                                │                   │
                ┌───────────────▼───────────────┐   │
                │        Rust Backend            │   │
                │  ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────────┐  │   │
                │  │  AIS    │ │   ECDIS      │  │   │
                │  │ Parser  │ │  Renderer    │  │   │
                │  └─────────┘ └──────────────┘  │   │
                │  ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────────┐  │   │
                │  │ Route   │ │ Spoofing     │  │   │
                │  │ Optimizer│ │ Detection    │  │   │
                │  └─────────┘ └──────────────┘  │   │
                └───────────────────────────────┘   │
                                                    ▼
                                          tpt-flight-control (Port)
                                          scheduling & berth assignment

Component	Tech	Status
AIS Parser (NMEA 0183 / AIVDM)	Rust	Implemented: types 1/2/3/5/18/24 + fuzz + bench (Phase 1)
ECDIS Chart Rendering (S-57/S-52)	Rust + wgpu	Planned (Phase 2)
Route Planning & Optimization	Rust	Planned (Phase 3)
GPS Spoofing Detection	Rust	Planned (Phase 4)
Web Frontend	TypeScript + React	Scaffolded (Phase 5)
tpt-flight-control link	Rust (satellite)	Planned (Phase 6)

Repository Layout

tpt-helm/
├── crates/            # Rust workspace members (backend)
│   └── ais/           # AIS / NMEA 0183 parsing
├── packages/          # TypeScript workspace members (frontend)
│   └── web/           # React bridge UI
├── docs/              # License & contribution conventions
├── .github/           # CI workflows, issue & PR templates
├── Cargo.toml         # Rust workspace manifest
├── package.json       # Node workspace manifest (pnpm + turbo)
├── LICENSE-MIT
└── LICENSE-APACHE

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Rust (latest stable) with rustfmt and clippy
• Node.js >= 20 and pnpm >= 9

Build

# Rust backend
cargo build --workspace
cargo test --workspace

# Frontend
pnpm install
pnpm build

AIS parser: fuzzing & benchmarking

The tp-helm-ais crate includes a cargo-fuzz target and a Criterion benchmark.

• Fuzzing (requires the nightly toolchain and cargo install cargo-fuzz):

  cargo +nightly fuzz run ais_decode
  

  The ais_decode target feeds arbitrary bytes to the decoder and asserts it never panics on malformed or malicious input.
• Benchmarking:

  cargo bench -p tp-helm-ais
  

Licensing

TPT Helm is dual-licensed under MIT OR Apache-2.0 (your choice). This project deliberately avoids GPL-licensed code so that the software remains freely reusable and auditable. See LICENSE-MIT and LICENSE-APACHE. Every source file carries an SPDX header; see docs/license-headers.md.

Roadmap

Full phased roadmap from repo scaffolding through IMO type approval is tracked in todo.md, following spec.txt.

Attribution

© TPT Solutions. TPT Helm is part of the TPT ecosystem, interoperating with tpt-flight-control for port-side scheduling and berth assignment.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. All contributions are licensed under MIT OR Apache-2.0.