In this paper, an adaptive neural network controller and its application to automatic berthing control of ship is presented. The neural network controller is trained online using adaptive interaction technique without any teaching data and off-line training phase. Firstly, the neural networks used to control rudder and propeller during automatic berthing process are presented. Secondly, computer simulations of automatic ship berthing are carried out in Pusan bay to verify the proposed controller under the influence of wind disturbance and measurement noise. The results of simulation show good performance of the developed berthing control system.

In this paper, new application of adaptive neural network to design a ship's Rudder-Roll Damping(RRD) control system is presented Firstly, the ANNAI neural network controller is presented. Secondly, new RRD control system using this neural network approach is developed. It uses two neural network controllers for heading control and roll damping control separately. Finally, Computer simulation of this RRD control system is carried out to compare with a linear quadratic optimal RRD control system; discussions and conclusions are provided. The simulation results show the feasibility of using ANNAI controller for RRD. Also, the necessity of mathematical ship model in designing RRD control system is removed by using NN control technique.

In Part I(theoretical study) of the paper, a new adaptive autopilot for ships based on Adaptive Neural Networks was proposed. The ANNAI autopilot was designed for course-keeping, turning and track-keeping control for ships. In this part of the paper, to show the effectiveness and feasibility of the ANNAI autopilot and automatic selection algorithm for learning rate and number of iterations, computer simulations of course-keeping and track-keeping tasks with and without the effects of measurement noise and external disturbances are presented. Additionally, the results of the previous studies using Adaptive Neural Network by backpropagation algorithm are also showed for comparison.

This paper presents a new adaptive autopilot for ships based on the Adaptive Neural Networks. The proposed adaptive autopilot is designed with some modifications and improvements from the previous studies on Adaptive Neural Networks by Adaptive Interaction (ANNAI) theory to perform course-keeping, turning and track-keeping control. A strategy for automatic selection of the neural network controller parameters is introduced to improve the adaptation ability and the robustness of new ANNAI autopilot. In Part II of the paper, to show the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed ANNAI autopilot, computer simulations of course-keeping and track-keeping tasks with and without the effects of measurement noise and external disturbances will be presented.