Manoeuvring Modelling and Control Design of Autonomous Vessels on Inland Waterways

Chengqian Zhang*, A. Dhyani, Jonas W. Ringsberg, Fabian Thies, V. Reppa, R.R. Negenborn

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Autonomous inland shipping has great potential to enable intelligent and sustainable freight transport. At the same time, with the increasing traffic on confined waterways, ensuring safe operations of these autonomous inland vessels within limited operational spaces becomes imperative. This will require considering hydrodynamic effects during control design stages. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of an autonomous inland vessel’s manoeuvrability and controller design. The ship’s motions are modelled using an enhanced Manoeuvring Modelling Group (MMG) model to account for the hydrodynamic effects of inland waterways, including water depths, river currents, and bank effects. A verification study is conducted utilising a pusher-barge prototype model in shallow water to verify the model’s accuracy. Through the implementation of a controller, a course-keeping study is conducted to assess the vessel’s steering performance across various inland waterway scenarios, including sailing along river bends and waterway intersections. The results show that the manoeuvring model can generate fast and accurate vessel trajectory predictions. It is found that the proposed control technique proves effective in mitigating the confinement effects and countering disturbances caused by river currents, thereby ensuring efficient course-keeping suitable for the considered type of autonomous vessels on inland waterways.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOcean Engineering
PublisherThe American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)978-0-7918-8782-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
EventASME 2024 43rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE 2024 - Singapore, Singapore
Duration: 9 Jun 202414 Jun 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings of the International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering - OMAE
Volume5A

Conference

ConferenceASME 2024 43rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE 2024
Country/TerritorySingapore
CitySingapore
Period9/06/2414/06/24

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

  • control design
  • inland waterways
  • manoeuvring prediction

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