Study on an effective adaptive autopilot for ships

This work presents an effective adaptive autopilot for ships that ensures the optimal accuracy, economy and stability characteristics. The PID control methodology is modified and a controller is designed to satisfy conditions for an optimal objective function that is comprised by heading error, resistance and drift during changing course, and loss of surge velocity or fuel consumption. Design of the controller is based on the model reference adaptive system (MRAS) and the self tuning regulator (STR) control theories. Simulation (using MATLAB software) in various disturbance conditions shows that in comparison with conventional PID autopilots, the designed autopilot has several notable advantages.