Automatic Docking for Underactuated Ships Based on Multi-Objective Nonlinear Model Predictive Control

Autonomous shipping refers to the ability of a ship to independently control its own actions while transporting cargo from one port to another, which places higher requirements on ship motion control methods. When a ship enters a port, it is important to ensure that the ship sails from the fairway area to the assigned position at the berth with a desirable speed and that it finally stops at the desired position. Ship docking is known as one of the most challenging tasks due to the non-linearity of low-speed ship movements and the high requirements on collision avoidance with the quayside. This paper proposes a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC)-based approach for underactuated ships, providing optimal ship rudder angles and propeller revolution rate to automate the ship docking process. At each sampling instant, a finite horizon optimal control problem is formulated based on a nonlinear ship maneuverability model. A lexicographic multi-objective optimization strategy is proposed in the design of the NMPC controller, saving the efforts on control parameters tuning. Simulation experiments are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.