Guidance and Motion Control for Automated Berthing of Twin-waterjet Propelled Vessels

The berthing of vessels is a safety critical operation due to tight requirements for precise navigation in the constrained harbor area. This study proposes a novel guidance and motion control algorithm to achieve the automated berthing operation of a twin-waterjet propelled vessel. A three phases guidance algorithm is devised that enables the smooth operation of the vessel between the transition and docking phase. The superior manoeuvrability offered by the twin-waterjet propulsion system provides high precision control of the vessel also at low speed, and the possibility of performing complex manoeuvres in limited space. A sliding mode manoeuvring controller and a two stage trust allocation scheme translate the computed speed and heading set-points into actual control actions. A simulation case study is utilized to verify the feasibility of the proposed berthing strategy.