A Study on Automatic Ship Berthing System Design with Side Thrusters

Abstract

This thesis contains some analyses and new results on the problem of automatic ship berthing system design. The main motivation driving this work is to propose a new approach for ship berthing automatically by using only bow and stern thrusters. In this thesis, the ship steering model is considered and simplified to suit the proposed system. Prediction Error Method, one of System identification techniques, is used to estimate the hydrodynamic coefficients of ship motion model. The two-degree-of-freedom servosystem incorporating observer is described. It satisfies two purposes: - Optimal tracking response to step reference by using linear optimal regulator - Robust stability with the uncertainty of model and effect of environmental disturbances In order to evaluate the efficiency of proposed steering model and designed controller, the ship control experiments are performed in model basin. Motion of ship is measured and controlled based on SIMTOOL program through DAQ board. Experimental results show good performances with reduced overshoot and steady state error as well as robustness against environmental disturbances.