Invention of automatic movement and dynamic positioning control method of unmanned vessel for mud mining

Fujii, Shun*; Kato, Tetsu*; Kawamura, Yamato*; Tahara, Junichiro*; Baba, Shoichiro*; Sanada, Yukihisa   

In recent years, autonomously navigating unmanned vessels have been actively studied, and many of these vessels are designed to perform unmanned operations such as observation and transportation. On the other hand, this study uses an unmanned ship with a moon pool that collects seabed mud, which is difficult for ordinary ships. Vessels used since the area are highly turbulent due to wind, so it is necessary to maintain a fixed point and orientation when removing mud. The ship is equipped with side thrusters to maintain a fixed point and bow direction. In this study, the control method was devised to maintain fixed point and orientation, and the control method is based on robust sliding mode control. The proposed control method was verified by simulation, and the desired behavior was confirmed.