Ship Maneuvering: The past, the present and the future

In the past, ship steering systems were based on controlling the ship heading to a desired heading by the measurement of a gyrocompass. As new measurements are available as well as the knowledge of advanced nonlinear control techniques, it is today possible to perform much more complicated maneuvers by automatic control. This has and will continue to increase the functionality and reliability of commercially available automatic ship navigation systems. Maneuvering a ship along a desired path is the present challenge.