• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.760-769
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• 2006

This paper proposes an autopilot system using a fuzzy PID controller to satisfy performances required for the automatic navigation of ships under various marine circumstances. The existing autopilot system using a PD type controller has difficulties in eliminating a steady-state error and compensating nonlinear characteristics of ships. The autopilot system using the proposed fuzzy PID controller has a self-tuning ability, an ability to compensate nonlinear characteristics, and an ability to turn at constant angular velocity. Therefore. it can naturally make a steady-state error zero, compensate nonlinear dynamic effect of ships, have an adaptability to parameter variation owing to shallow water effect, and have an ability to turn ship's course rapidly without overshoot through procedures of acceleration, constant, and deceleration of angular velocity for large course-changing.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.199-208
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• 2001

In this paper, an automatic route tracking algorithm using the position variables and the yaw angle of a ship is suggested, Since most autopilot systems paly only a role of course-keeping by integrating the gyrocompass output, they cannot cope with position errors between the desired route and real route of the ship resulted from a drifting and disturbances such as wave, wind and currents during navigation. In order for autopilot systems to track the desired route, a method which can reduce such position errors is required and some algorithms have been proposed[1,2]While such were turned out effective methods, they have a shortage that the rudder control actions for reducing the position errors are occurred very frequently. In order to improve this problem it is necessary to convert that error into the corresponding yaw angle and necessary to treat only yaw angle control problem. To do this a command generation algorithm which converts the rudder angle command reducing the current position error into they yaw angle command is suggested. To control the ship under disturbances and nonlinearities of the ship dynamics, the adaptive fuzzy controller is developed. Finally, through computer simulations for two ship models, the effectiveness of the suggested method and the possibility of the automatic route tracking are assured.