An alternative portable dynamic positioning system on a barge in short-crested waves using the fuzzy control

Abstract

The paper described the nonlinear dynamic motion behavior of a barge equipped with the portable outboard Dynamic Positioning (DP) control system in short-crested waves. The DP system based on the fuzzy theory is applied to control the thrusters to optimally adjust the ship position and heading in waves. In addition to the short-crested waves, the current, wind and nonlinear drifting force are also included in the calculations. The time domain simulations for the six degrees of freedom motions of the barge with the DP system are solved by the 4th order Runge-Kutta method. The results show that the position and heading deviations are limited within acceptable ranges based on the present control method. When the dynamic positioning missions are needed, the technique of the alternative portable DP system developed here can serve as a practical tool to assist those ships without equipping with the DP facility.