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A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Ocean Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 January 2022) | Viewed by 39586

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Evgeny Veremey

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Guest Editor

Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg (ex Leningrad), Russia
Interests: marine science and applications; marine vessels; control theory and optimization; marine control systems; autopilots; dynamic positioning systems; marine ship routing

Prof. Dr. Margarita Sotnikova

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Computer Applications and Systems, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg (ex Leningrad), Russia
Interests: control systems engineering; nonlinear control; model control; motion control

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the intensive development of the global economy, many problems are constantly emerging connected with the safety of ships’ motion in the context of increasing marine traffic. These problems seem to be especially significant for the further development of marine transportation services, with the need to considerably increase their efficiency and reliability. One of the commonly used approaches to ensuring safety and efficiency is the wide implementation of various automated systems for guidance and control, including popular systems such as marine autopilots, dynamic positioning systems, speed control systems, automatic routing installations, etc.

This Special Issue is intended to focus on various problems related to the analysis, design, modelling, and operation of the aforementioned systems. It is proposed to place optimization approaches in the spotlight, considering that, for the most part, optimality is not the end in itself in practice. It is assumed that the optimization approach should be treated as an effective and convenient instrument to achieve desirable features of the system to be considered. This can be explained by the universality, flexibility, and convenience of modern optimization methods with respect to relevant practical implementations of control theory for marine applications.

Prof. Dr. Evgeny Veremey
Prof. Dr. Margarita Sotnikova
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

automatic control
optimization
control systems
performance
stability
ship routing
marine vehicles

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 182 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels

by Margarita V. Sotnikova

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(5), 618; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10050618 - 1 May 2022

Viewed by 1929

Abstract

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

11 pages, 4186 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Physics-Informed Neural Network for the Prediction of Unmanned Surface Vehicle Dynamics

by Peng-Fei Xu, Chen-Bo Han, Hong-Xia Cheng, Chen Cheng and Tong Ge

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(2), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10020148 - 24 Jan 2022

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 6262

Abstract

A three-degrees-of-freedom model, including surge, sway and yaw motion, with differential thrusters is proposed to describe unmanned surface vehicle (USV) dynamics in this study. The experiment is carried out in the Qing Huai River and the data obtained from different zigzag trajectories are filtered by a Gaussian filtering method. A physics-informed neural network (PINN) is proposed to identify the dynamic models of the USV. PINNs combine the advantages of data-driven machine learning and physical models. They can also embed the speed and steering models into the loss function, which can significantly retain all types of information. Compared with traditional neural networks, the results show that the PINN has better generalization ability in predicting the surge and sway velocities and rotation speed with only limited training data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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20 pages, 4971 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adaptive Integral Sliding Mode Based Course Keeping Control of Unmanned Surface Vehicle

by José Antonio González-Prieto, Carlos Pérez-Collazo and Yogang Singh

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(1), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10010068 - 6 Jan 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2832

Abstract

This paper investigates the course keeping control problem for an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) in the presence of unknown disturbances and system uncertainties. The simulation study combines two different types of sliding mode surface based control approaches due to its precise tracking and robustness against disturbances and uncertainty. Firstly, an adaptive linear sliding mode surface algorithm is applied, to keep the yaw error within the desired boundaries and then an adaptive integral non-linear sliding mode surface is explored to keep an account of the sliding mode condition. Additionally, a method to reconfigure the input parameters in order to keep settling time, yaw rate restriction and desired precision within boundary conditions is presented. The main strengths of proposed approach is simplicity, robustness with respect to external disturbances and high adaptability to static and dynamics reference courses without the need of parameter reconfiguration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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10 pages, 861 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cooperation between Sea Ports and Carriers in the Logistics Chain

by Elena A. Lezhnina and Yulia E. Balykina

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(7), 774; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9070774 - 16 Jul 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4401

Abstract

In a modern economy, international trade is an important factor in the development of various regions. Shipping is one of the most important elements of the global supply chain. However, after the economic crisis of 2008, global shipping revenues plummeted. One way to restore profitability is the consolidation of shipping routes and the globalization of shipping lines. As container transport lines move to larger ships, the structure of the delivery route becomes a structure with intermediate points. This trend put forward higher demands on the port infrastructure, which aggravated the competition between regional ports, as well as ports that could degrade into a large cargo consolidation port. The economic advantage is enhanced by cooperation between shipping lines and ports. Thus, ports and shipping lines in the same supply chain can be mutually beneficial partners. The study analyses the effectiveness of horizontal and vertical cooperation between ports and carriers. As a source of information, a review of the literature on this issue, expert opinions, and statistical data is taken. Next, a mathematical model is built on the basis of cooperative game theory, and numerical analysis is carried out. The results show that the strategy of cooperation of shipping lines strongly depends on the situation with the supply and demand of vessels. A port that interacts with shipping lines will significantly reduce port charges, which creates the advantage of receiving more port requests. However, cooperation may lead to losses for the port, so a redistribution of profits is necessary to maintain the coalition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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21 pages, 10876 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multicriteria Ship Route Planning Method Based on Improved Particle Swarm Optimization–Genetic Algorithm

by Wei Zhao, Yan Wang, Zhanshuo Zhang and Hongbo Wang

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(4), 357; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9040357 - 25 Mar 2021

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 5719

Abstract

With the continuous prosperity and development of the shipping industry, it is necessary and meaningful to plan a safe, green, and efficient route for ships sailing far away. In this study, a hybrid multicriteria ship route planning method based on improved particle swarm optimization–genetic algorithm is presented, which aims to optimize the meteorological risk, fuel consumption, and navigation time associated with a ship. The proposed algorithm not only has the fast convergence of the particle swarm algorithm but also improves the diversity of solutions by applying the crossover operation, selection operation, and multigroup elite selection operation of the genetic algorithm and improving the Pareto optimal frontier distribution. Based on the Pareto optimal solution set obtained by the algorithm, the minimum-navigation-time route, the minimum-fuel-consumption route, the minimum-navigation-risk route, and the recommended route can be obtained. Herein, a simulation experiment is conducted with respect to a container ship, and the optimization route is compared and analyzed. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can plan a series of feasible ship routes to ensure safety, greenness, and economy and that it provides route selection references for captains and shipping companies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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21 pages, 5204 KiB

Open AccessArticle

3-Dimensional Modeling and Attitude Control of Multi-Joint Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

by Lin Yu, Qinghao Meng and Hongwei Zhang

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(3), 307; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9030307 - 10 Mar 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2536

Abstract

To achieve rapid and flexible vertical profile exploration of deep-sea hybrid structures, a multi-joint autonomous underwater vehicle (MJ-AUV) with orthogonal joints was designed. This paper focuses on the 3-dimensional (3D) modeling and attitude control of the designed vehicle. Considering the situation of gravity and buoyancy imbalance, a 3D model of the MJ-AUV was established according to Newton’s second law and torque balance principle. And then the numerical simulation was carried out to verify the credibility of the model. To solve the problems that the pitch and yaw attitude of the MJ-AUV are coupled and the disturbance is unknown, a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) decoupling control method based on a linear extended state observer (LESO) was proposed. The system was decoupled into pitch and yaw subsystems, treated the internal forces and external disturbances of each subsystem as total disturbances, and estimated the total disturbances with LESO. The control law was divided into two parts. The first part was the total disturbance compensator, while the second part was the linear state feedback controller. The simulation results show that the overshoot of the controlled system in the dynamic process is nearly 0 rad, reaching the design value very smoothly. Moreover, when the controlled system is in a stable state, the control precision is within 0.005%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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11 pages, 2973 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predicting Ship Trajectory Based on Neural Networks Using AIS Data

by Tamara A. Volkova, Yulia E. Balykina and Alexander Bespalov

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(3), 254; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9030254 - 28 Feb 2021

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 4746

Abstract

To create an autonomously moving vessel, it is necessary to know exactly how to determine the current coordinates of the vessel in the selected coordinate system, determine the actual trajectory of the vessel, estimate the motion trend to predict the current coordinates, and calculate the course correction to return to the line of the specified path. The navigational and hydrographic conditions of navigation on each section of the route determine the requirements for the accuracy of observations and the time spent on locating the vessel. The problem of predicting the trajectory of the vessel’s motion in automatic mode is especially important for river vessels or river-sea vessels, predicting the trajectory of the route sections during the maneuvering of the vessel. At the moment, one of the most accurate ways of determining the coordinates of the vessel is by reading the satellite signal. However, when a vessel is near hydraulic structures, problems may arise connected with obtaining a satellite signal due to interference and, therefore, the error in measuring the coordinates of the vessel increases. The likelihood of collisions and various kinds of incidents increases. In such cases, it is possible to correct the trajectory of the movement using an autonomous navigation system. In this work, opportunities of the possible application of artificial neural networks to create such a corrective system using only the coordinates of the ship’s position are discussed. It was found that this is possible on sections of the route where the ship does not maneuver. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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22 pages, 7411 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Path-Following Control Method for Surface Ships Based on a New Guidance Algorithm

by Zhanshuo Zhang, Yuhan Zhao, Guang Zhao, Hongbo Wang and Yi Zhao

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(2), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9020166 - 6 Feb 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2766

Abstract

A new type of path-following method has been developed to steer marine surface vehicles along desired paths. Path-following is achieved by a new hyperbolic guidance law for straight-line paths and a backstepping control law for curved paths. An optimal controller has been improved for heading control, based on linear quadratic regulator (LQR) theory with nonlinear feedback control techniques. The control algorithm performance is validated by simulation and comparison against the requirements of International Standard IEC62065. Deviations are within the allowable range of the standard. In addition, the experimental results show that the proposed method has higher control accuracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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17 pages, 7121 KiB

Open AccessArticle

L2-Gain Based Adaptive Robust Heel/Roll Reduction Control Using Fin Stabilizer during Ship Turns

by Zhang Songtao and Zhao Peng

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(1), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9010089 - 15 Jan 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2720

Abstract

The rolling and heeling experienced by a ship during turning will be more severe under the interference of winds and waves, which will seriously affect the navigation safety of the ship. The fin stabilizer is currently the best active anti-rolling device, which is usually used to reduce the roll of the ship during straight-line sailing. The purpose of this work is to study the use of fin stabilizers to reduce the rolling and heeling during ship turning, considering the non-linearity and uncertainty during the rotation. The 4 degrees of freedom (4-DOF) nonlinear motion model of a multi-purpose naval vessel is established. The forces and moments produced by fin stabilizers, rudders, propellers, and waves are also considered. The nonlinear control model of rotation and roll is derived and established. Given the non-linearity and uncertainty in the ship turning process, an L2-gain based robust adaptive control is proposed to control the fin stabilizers to reduce the turning heel and roll motion. The proof of the stability and the detailed design process of the controller are also given. Simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. For comparison purposes, the simulation results under a well-tuned PID controller are also given. The simulation results show that the developed control strategy can effectively reduce the heel and roll during ship turns, and it has good robustness against uncertainty and internal and external interference. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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15 pages, 1802 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimal Damping Concept Implementation for Marine Vessels’ Tracking Control

by Evgeny I. Veremey

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(1), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9010045 - 4 Jan 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1624

Abstract

This work presents the results of studies related to the design of stabilizing feedback connections for marine vessels moving along initially given trajectories. As is known, in mathematical formalization, this question leads to a problem of tracking control synthesis for nonlinear and non-autonomous plants. To provide desirable stability and performance features of the closed-loop systems to be synthesized, it is appropriate to use an optimization approach. Unlike the known synthesis methods, which are usually used within the framework of this approach, it is proposed to implement the optimal damping concept first developed by V.I. Zubov in the early 60s of the last century. Modern interpretation of this concept allows constructing numerically effective procedures of control law synthesis taking into account its applicability in a real-time regime. Central attention is focused on the questions connected with practical adaptation of the optimal damping methods for marine control systems. The operability and effectiveness of the proposed approach are illustrated by a practical example of tracking control design. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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17 pages, 7037 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Early Warning of Ship Danger Based on Composition Fuzzy Inference

by Zhiying Guan, Yan Wang, Zheng Zhou and Hongbo Wang

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(12), 1002; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8121002 - 8 Dec 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2417

Abstract

Ship collision avoidance measures are important for reducing marine accidents caused by human factors and various natural environmental factors and can also prevent property loss and casualties. In recent years, various methods have been used to study collision avoidance, including ship domain models. This paper proposes a ship domain model based on fuzzy logic aimed at providing early warning of ship collision risk and a reasonable reference that can be used in combination with the International Regulation for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs). The composition fuzzy inference combining more than one fuzzy inference process is first used to introduce as many factors as possible related to ship collision risk for calculating the ship domain. In this way, the calculation of the ship domain size is more accurate, and a more accurate reference can be provided to sailors, which could save both time and labor by reducing errors. A fuzzy inference system based on if-then fuzzy rules was established in MATLAB and simulation experiments were conducted. The simulation results suggest that the proposed method is feasible and can help sailors make subjective decisions to effectively avoid the occurrence of collision accidents. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automatic Control and Routing of Marine Vessels)

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