Control system design for vessel towing system by activating rudders of the towed vessel

In this study, the motion control problem of the vessel towed by a towing ship (tugboat) is considered. The non-powered towed ship is dragged by the towing ship. Even though the towed ship is equipped with propulsion systems, they cannot be used at low or constant speeds due to safety issues. In narrow canals, rivers, and busy harbor areas especially, where extreme tension is required during towing operation, the course stability of the towed vessel depends on the towing ship. Therefore, the authors propose a new control strategy in which the rudder system of the towed vessel is activated to provide its maneuverability. Based on the leader-follower system configuration, a nonlinear mathematical model is derived and a back-stepping control is designed. By simulation and experiment results with a comparison study, the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed strategy are validated.