Full-state Manoeuvre Planning System for Marine Vehicles

Nowadays vessels are often equipped with modern steering devices like thrusters and podded drives. Such modern steering concepts substantially increase the manoeuvring capability of the vessels. Special manoeuvres, such as berthing and cast off manoeuvres, can be performed by controlling all available aggregates without using tug boats, lines and anchors. Furthermore, the reliability of the position information especially in ports and other safety critical areas has been improved by auxiliary systems. The user gets warranted position data, so that control tasks with high safety requirements can be realised automatically, especially in case of decreased visibility. The deficit of today's track control systems is the path planning method to generate the input values of the specific track control systems by the navigating officer, especially in low speed modes. In order to face this lack, new manoeuvre planning algorithms have been developed and embedded in a simulation and test environment. The feasibility of the developed manoeuvre planning methods is demonstrated with one of the most challenging nautical tasks – the berthing manoeuvre.