Time-Scale Decomposition Techniques Used in the Ship Path-Following Problem with Rudder Roll Stabilization Control

The motion control of a surface ship based on a four degrees of freedom (4-DoF) (surge, sway, roll, and yaw) maneuvering motion model is studied in this paper. A time-scale decomposition method is introduced to solve the path-following problem, implementing Rudder Roll Stabilization (RRS) at the same time. The control objectives are to let the ship to track a predefined curve path under environmental disturbances, and to reduce the roll motion at the same time. A singular perturbation method is used to decouple the whole system into two subsystems of different time scales: the slow path-following subsystem and the fast roll reduction subsystem. The coupling effect of the two subsystems is also considered in this framework of analysis. RRS control is only possible when there is the so-called bandwidth separation characteristic in the ship motion system, which requires a large bandwidth separation gap between the two subsystems. To avoid the slow subsystem being affected by the wave disturbances of high frequency and large system uncertainties, the adaptive control is introduced in the slow subsystem, while a Proportion-Differentiation (PD) control law is adopted in the fast roll reduction subsystem. Simulation results show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control strategy.