A Behavior Pattern-Guided Approach to Safe Navigation Control for Ships in Narrow Waters
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Narrow waters represent one of the most hazardous environments for ship navigation, where irregular shore boundaries and the underactuated characteristics of vessels significantly constrain maneuverability. To address this, this study proposes a path tracking control method dual-driven by historical data and control theory to ensure safe navigation in restricted waters. First, we propose a data-driven navigation behavior pattern extraction framework. This framework mines representative patterns from historical AIS data, providing reliable navigational priors for path planning and control. Subsequently, utilizing the recommended route derived from these patterns as the tracking reference, we design a robust tracking controller based on the Lyapunov stability criterion. This controller incorporates a dynamic slack variable mechanism, which adaptively adjusts constraint boundaries based on historical distribution characteristics and real-time navigation status. This approach effectively mitigates model uncertainties while ensuring precise path tracking within the safety corridor.
Authors: Sheng Gao, Jie Ma, Chengfeng Jia, Qihao Yang
Language: English
Subfield: Ocean Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7203477696