OE5055

Ship Dynamic Positioning Systems

From marine vehicle equations of motion to observers, thrusters, and integrated controllers for dynamic positioning.

Design and analysis of dynamic positioning systems for ships and offshore platforms — modelling vessel dynamics, designing observers and controllers, and integrating thruster models for station-keeping.

Course content

Vehicle dynamics

  • Governing equations of motion of a general marine vehicle
  • Characteristics of the dynamic positioning problem
  • Modelling the dynamics of a DP vessel

Observers and controllers

  • Observer design for DP applications
  • Controller design for station-keeping objectives

Thrusters and integration

  • Propeller and thruster dynamics
  • Integrated controller design for dynamic positioning

Learning objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Derive the governing equations of motion of any general marine vehicle
  • Explain the important characteristics of the dynamic positioning problem
  • Model the dynamics of a DP vessel in MATLAB
  • Design an observer and controller using MATLAB
  • Model the propeller and thruster dynamics
  • Design an integrated controller for a DP objective

Video lectures for this course remain available online.

Video lectures

Open the full playlist on YouTube ↗