Cooperative multi-vessel systems in urban waterway networks

Urban waterways have great potential in cargo transport to relieve the congestion in the overloaded road networks. This paper explores the potential of applying cooperative multi-vessel systems (CMVSs) to improve the safety and efficiency of transport in urban waterway networks. A framework consisting of vessel train formation (VTF) and...

Survey on cooperative control for waterborne transport

This article provides a comprehensive overview on cooperative control methods for waterborne transport. We first proposed a hierarchical architecture of cooperation in the waterborne transport systems. Three layers of cooperation are identified according to the range of communication and cooperation, i.e., the individual layer, the local...

Distributed Model Predictive Control for cooperative floating object transport with multi-vessel systems

Compared to an individual Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV), greater efficiency and operational capability can be realized by a team of cooperative ASVs for certain operations, such as search and rescue, hydrographic survey and navigation assistance. This paper focuses on cooperative floating object transport, i.e., a group of ASVs coordinate...

Intersection crossing of cooperative multi-vessel systems

A Cooperative Multi-Vessel System (CMVS) is a system consisting of multiple coordinated vessels. Vessels utilize Vessel-2-Vessel and Vessel-2-Infrastructure communication to making decisions with negotiating and\or collaborating with each other for a common goal. Due to the geographic limitations of banks and navigation rules and regulations,...

Design and control of hybrid power and propulsion systems for smart ships: A review of developments

The recent trend to design more efficient and versatile ships has increased the variety in hybrid propulsion and power supply architectures. In order to improve performance with these architectures, intelligent control strategies are required, while mostly conventional control strategies are applied currently. First, this paper classifies...

Pitch control for ships with diesel mechanical and hybrid propulsion: Modelling, validation and performance quantification

Ships, in particular service vessels, need to reduce fuel consumption, emissions and cavitation noise while maintaining manoeuvrability and preventing engine overloading. Diesel mechanical propulsion with controllable pitch propellers can provide high fuel efficiency with good manoeuvrability. However, the conventional control strategy with...