AUTOMATIC BERTHING OF SHIPS

This paper sets out to describe a research project aimed to provide a complete simulation of a vessel automatically berthing in a generic port and to carry out a feasibility study of the hardware and software for a system to be installed on a small vessel for physical trial tests. Research and development in control and guidance of ships has been ongoing for some four years, and the objective of the programme is to establish the feasibility of the system. For that reason it considers both technological and human factor aspects of this problem. The programme is based upon previous research and seeks to apply proven techniques to the design and development of a system automatically to berth a vessel.