Development of a Maneuvering Support System for Ships without Dynamic Positioning Systems

Dynamic positioning systems (DPSs), which maintain ships at a specific point, have been widely used in marine development; however, ships without DPSs are also required to remain at a specific position, such as during lifesaving situations. However, it is difficult to maneuver a ship to a specific point without using a maneuvering support system such as a DPS. This paper proposes a maneuvering support system that recommends the control inputs of each actuator to deck officers when they maneuver dynamic positioning manually. The support system predicts the motion of the ship and calculates the control inputs required to maintain the ship at a specific position. Subsequently, the recommended control input of each actuator is provided as a value that can be operated by deck officers. The results of the maneuvering experiment indicate that the developed system may reduce the position error in dynamic positioning.