Estimation of the wave direction of ship waves generated by a small vessel using the multiple signal classification method

Abstract

It is very important to estimate the waves generated by a small vessel so as to investigate their effects on floating bodies within the scope of fisheries and ocean engineering. Simplified methods for estimating the wave heights and periods of ship waves have been presented in previous studies. However, estimating the direction of ship waves is not easy. The focus of the present study is to develop an analytical technique to determine the direction of ship waves based on the measurements in field experiments. The multiple signal classification (MUSIC) method is newly proposed for determining the direction of ship waves. For high ship speeds, the directional spectrum of ship waves estimated by MUSIC resulted in a sharp monotone peak, and the estimated directions of ship waves were very similar to the results of field experiments using an actual small vessel. The proposed MUSIC method has thus been confirmed to be effective in estimating ship wave directions with high resolution.