An energy-efficient nonlinear robust track keeping control algorithm for the Maritime Silk Road

This paper proposes a nonlinear robust track keeping control algorithm for energy efficiency from the perspective of ship motion control, based on the great significance of the twenty-first Century Maritime Silk Road. Replacing the course error with the driven by the sine function in course keeping loop to serve as the input of the controller, the simulation results tested on the ship autopilot simulation platform show that the controller output (maximum rudder angle) decreases, and the control effect of track keeping is better than the previous one in aspects of energy efficiency and rudder shake inhibition. Otherwise, the proposed nonlinear track keeping control algorithm still works in relatively severe sea states. Substituting the nonlinear feedback for the linear feedback has the generality of control effect improving.