The rising popularity of autonomous vehicles has spurred significant research interest in the maritime industry, particularly for developing maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS). An essential requirement of MASS is the ability to follow a pre-determined sea path, considering obstacles, water depth, and ship maneuverability.
Any deviation from this path due to adverse weather conditions poses serious risks like collision, contact, or grounding incidents. It is thus desirable for autonomous ships to have a mechanism in place for effectively resisting deviations.
However, current methods for assessing the path-following performance of autonomous ships rely on simplified mathematical ship models. Unfortunately, these models cannot capture the complicated interactions between the hull, propeller, rudder, and external loads of ships, leading to inaccurate estimates of path-following performance.
Furthermore, in response to the International Maritime Organization’s Energy Efficiency Design Index to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Marine Environment Protection Committee has provided guidelines to determine the minimum propulsion power required to maintain ship maneuverability in adverse weather conditions.
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