Consumption Optimised Manoeuvring Method for Ship Automation

The paper presents a method for gradual automation of ship manoeuvring, focusing on ships already in service. The approach involves the expert knowledge of both nautical officers and ship engineers to optimise the operational behaviour and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Detailed models of dynamic ship motion and engine processes form the basis of various software tools to assist the manual planning and execution of effective voyages. The results of a study in ship handling simulator show that the manual manoeuvring efficiency of experienced nautical officers has also been significantly increased by these assistance instruments. With regard to automatic shipping, the generated optimal plan is transferred to the automatic control system as a target trajectory. Based on a simplified motion model, the controller structure with feed-forward and feedback modules was developed to realise velocity, heading and track control. Results of controller application in simulator tests with and without wind disturbances are presented. In addition, the paper describes the development of necessary framework conditions for safety-critical areas for the application of automatically controlled manoeuvres in today’s practice with the so-called nautical algorithms according to the research project GALILEOnautic 2.