Ship Heading Control Using Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

Abstract

A ship heading control can drive the ship to follow the desired heading angle. A ship heading control is used in the autopilot system of the ship. The ship motion can be written mathematically with nonlinear equations. The method that can solve the ship heading control problem on a nonlinear model is Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC). This study aims to design the ship heading control and the system model used is the 3 DOF (degree of freedom) model equation. The best condition for simulation is obtained based on the value of time sampling and the number of prediction horizon. Based on simulations, NMPC can be applied in the ship heading control effectively and satisfy the constraints.