Ship's path controller - compares desired and actual courses while taking account of sideslip angle to cope with high wind and tide conditions

摘要

A ship's track controller computes the ship's deviation from its desired track using the measured ship's position and feeds it to a deviation controller. The output of the controller is compared with an actual course. A further signal is fed to the compaison point (22) of the actual and desired courses. This signal is related to the ship's sideslip angle beta = arc tan (v/u) where v and u are the transverse and longitudinal speeds of the ship respectively. USE/ADVANTAGE - Adequate track control accuracy even for low ship speeds in presence of high wind and tide effects and without loss of control stability.