Study on a New and Effective Fuzzy PID Ship Autopilot

  • Published : 2005.06.02

Abstract

Ship Autopilots are usually designed based on the PD and Pill controllers because of simplicity, reliability and easy to construct. However their performance in various environmental conditions is not as good as desired. This disadvantage can be overcome by adjusting works or constructing adaptive controllers. But those methods are complex and not easy to do. This paper presents a new method for constructing a Ship Autopilot based on the combination of Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) and Linear Control Theory (Pill control). The new Ship Autopilot has the advantages of both the Pill and FLC control methodologies: easy to construct, and optimal control laws can be established based on ship masters' knowledge. Therefore, the new ship autopilot can be well adapted with parameter variations and strong environment effects. Simulation using MATLAB software for a ship with real parameters shows high effectiveness of the Fuzzy Pill autopilot in course keeping and course changing manoeuvres in comparison with the ordinary Pill ship autopilots.

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