Global robust and adaptive output feedback dynamic positioning of surface ships

A constructive method was presented to design a global robust and adaptive output feedback controller for dynamic positioning of surface ships under environmental disturbances induced by waves, wind, and ocean currents. The ship's parameters were not required to be known. An adaptive observer was first designed to estimate the ship's velocities and parameters. The ship position measurements were also passed through the adaptive observer to reduce high frequency measurement noise from entering the control system. Using these estimate signals, the control was then designed based on Lyapunov's direct method to force the ship's position and orientation to globally asymptotically converge to desired values. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control system. In conclusion, the paper presented a new method to design an effective control system for dynamic positioning of surface ships. © 2011 Harbin Engineering University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg