An application of dynamic positioning control using wave feed forward

The paper presents the results of model tests for a large tanker in which wave drift force feed forward was applied in the dynamic positioning control system. The estimation method of the nonlinear (second order) wave drift forces from the measurement of relative water motions at the side of a ship hull is presented. The estimated wave drift forces are used in the DP control system, to enhance the filter process of the extended Kalman filter, and in the required thruster set-points. The EKF uses the nonlinear equations of low-frequency ship motions on the horizontal plane, which are also presented. The results of the model tests show that the use of wave drift force feed forward significantly improves the positioning accuracy in sea states with 3.5 m significant wave height or higher. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.