A decision-making system supporting selection of commanded outputs for a ship's propulsion system with a controllable pitch propeller

The ship's operators have to make decisions regarding the values of commanded outputs (commanded engine speed and pitch ratio) which ensure maximum vessel speed and minimum fuel consumption. Obviously, the presented decision problems are opposed. Therefore, there is a need for a compromise solution that enables more flexible vessel voyage planning. This paper deals with development of a computer-aided system supporting selection of commanded outputs (commanded engine speed and pitch ratio) for a ship's propulsion system with a controllable pitch propeller. The main component of this system is the decision-making system. In particular, development of both the functional models using ANN techniques, and the two-objective optimization model of the mentioned decision-making system are presented.