Model Predictive Control for Steering System of Water-Jet Propulsion

Water-jet propulsion is a widely applied ship propulsion technology. Its steering control system has an important impact on manoeuvre performance. In this paper, transfer function model is firstly established on the basis of mechanism analysis of water-jet steering system. Then, by considering the variability of model parameters and input constrains in practical operation, a model predictive controller is designed for steering system control. Subsequently, model based disturbance observer is employed in an attempt to reject environmental disturbances. The performance of the proposed model predictive control (MPC) scheme for a particular steering system is compared against conventional proportional integral derivative (PID) control strategy. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed model predictive controller outperforms conventional PID controller, particularly in robustness, response delay and tracking accuracy.