Computational Efficient Simulation of Kelvin Wake for Unmanned Surface Vehicles

The ship wake affects the motion of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) essentially. While USV simulators have been proposed recently, they do not support the ship wake. In this paper, a computational efficient simulation of ship wake is proposed. The simulation is based on influence-point model. In some portion of the wake, this model is inaccurate. Extra processes are applied to pre-manipulate the model to ensure its accuracy. The simulation can be applied to a general scenario, especially when the ship velocity varies with time. The results show that the wake is accurate, and the computational complexity is low. The simulated wake has been equipped into a USV simulator, providing a more realistic environment disturbance.