Design and Assessment of ADRC-Based Autopilot for Energy-Efficient Ship Steering

Zenon Zwierzewicz, Lech Dorobczyński and Jarosław Artyszuk
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Zenon Zwierzewicz: Faculty of Mechatronics and Electrical Engineering, Maritime University of Szczecin, Willowa St. 2, 71-650 Szczecin, Poland
Lech Dorobczyński: Faculty of Mechatronics and Electrical Engineering, Maritime University of Szczecin, Willowa St. 2, 71-650 Szczecin, Poland
Jarosław Artyszuk: Faculty of Navigation, Maritime University of Szczecin, Wały Chrobrego St. 1-2, 70-500 Szczecin, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-16

Abstract: This paper looks at a typical problem encountered in the process of designing an automatic ship’s course stabilisation system with the use of a relatively new methodology referred to as the Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC). The main advantage of this approach over classic autopilots based on PID algorithms, still in the majority, is that it eliminates the tuning problem and, thus, ensures a much better average performance of the ship in various speed, loading, nautical and weather conditions during a voyage. All of these factors call for different and often dynamically variable autopilot parameters, which are difficult to assess, especially by the ship’s crew or owner. The original result of this article is that the required controller parameters are approximated based on some canonical model structure and analysis of the hydrodynamic properties of a wide class of ships. Another novelty is the use of a fully verified, realistic numerical hydrodynamic model of the ship as a simulation model as well as a basis for deriving a simplified model structure suitable for controller design. The preliminary results obtained indicate good performance of the proposed ADRC autopilot and provide prospects for its successful implementation on a real ship.

Keywords: ship autopilot design; ADRC methodology; full-scale ship model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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