Techniques for thruster system control for a pontoon boat or other watercraft. A thruster system may comprise a plurality of thrusters used to control movement of the pontoon boat in addition to an outboard prime mover. The thrusters may be fixed and/or steerable thrusters. In examples, the thrusters may be retracted based on identifying a condition in which the thrusters may be damaged. The thrusters may be deployed based on identifying a condition in which the thrusters may be used to recharge an associated energy source. User input to control the thrusters may be adapted to account for external forces acting on the pontoon boat. A user interface is provided with which to control the thruster system, via which an operator manipulates a movement intent line to control the thruster system. The user interface may further comprise obstacle indicators, thereby enabling the operator to maneuver the pontoon boat accordingly.

A system and method that reduces spatial positioning control requirements for maintaining reduced wave-making resistance of at least one following vessel in a fleet operating in a seaway, by determining a position of the at least one following vessel within a coordinated zone, which is a zone within a reduced wave-making resistance region of the Kelvin wake of at least one lead vessel, at which a surge motion of the vessels is synchronized with each other. By positioning the at least one following vessel in the coordinated zone, the spatial positioning control requirements of the at least one following vessel can be reduced.

A boat maneuvering control method for a boat includes acquiring target route information and information about an actual position of the boat, setting a target position based on the target route information and the information about the actual position, acquiring, as a deviation amount, a distance between the target position and the boat in a predetermined direction that intersects with a target route, and controlling a magnitude of a propulsion force of a propulsion device so as to reduce the deviation amount.

Many different types of systems are utilized and tasks are performed in a marine environment. The present invention provides various configurations of castable devices that can be operated and/or controlled for such systems or tasks. One or more castable devices can be integrated with a transducer assembly, such as a phased array, that emits sonar beams and receives sonar returns from the underwater environment. Processing circuitry may receive the sonar returns, process the sonar returns, generate an image, and transmit the image to a display.

A supporting system for a floating unit in shallow water exerts controlled stresses on the floating unit hull and includes supporting structure for the hull. An extendable supporting device operatively connects to the supporting structure and is suitable to support a predetermined weight of the floating unit and load when entirely supported by the extendable supporting device and when the extendable supporting device rests on a bed of a water body. An actuator device connects to the supporting structure and operatively connects to the extendable supporting device for extension or contraction. A control device operatively connects to the actuator device to control the extraction or contraction movement of the extendable supporting device. The system includes at least one hull stress monitoring device operatively connected to the control device. A device to monitor the stress, or load, on the extendable supporting device operatively connects to the control device.

A control system for navigating a marine vessel employs at least a first motor and a second motor. The control system is configured to communicate with the first and second motors. The control system is configured to receive a position measurement and an orientation measurement for the marine vessel. The control system is further configured to generate at least one control signal for the first motor based on the position measurement and at least one control signal for the second motor based on the orientation measurement.

Disclosed is a coverage path planning method for multiple unmanned surface mapping vehicles, comprising: simultaneously creating submaps and an overall map; outputting its own position information and obstacle information, transmitting to BL.sub.l.sup.i and updating BL.sub.l.sup.m; defining a behavior strategy list (BS); determining the BS with priority for path planning, outputting a to or th state if any criterion is satisfied; when trapped in a local optimum, updating map layers layer-by-layer going upwards, searching for tp in the corresponding layers, performing a BS determination, and outputting a tr instruction; if no target point is found even at the highest layer, checking each CS.sub.P.sub.i∈{FN.sub.i,UFN.sub.i}, and determining a termination. As such, the coverage rate and coverage effect of multiple unmanned surface mapping vehicles in a complex environment can be increased, thus increasing the operational efficiency of the unmanned surface mapping vehicles.

A dynamic active control system (DACS) configured for: (1) total vessel pitch axis control by fast symmetric deployment of water engagement devices (WEDs) or controllers, coupled with engine trim adjustments; (2) total roll and heading control by differentially deploying WEDs to counter rolling motions while simultaneously adjusting engine steering position to counter the steering moment associated with WED delta position; and (3) adjustment of the engine steering angle to counter yaw moments produced by gyroscopic stabilization systems.

A watercraft control system includes a watercraft and a communication device. The communication device includes a communication unit configured to transmit information indicating a location of the communication device to the watercraft. The watercraft includes a communication unit configured to receive the information indicating the location of the communication device and a difference calculation unit configured to calculate a difference between the location of the communication device and a location of the watercraft.

The purpose of the present disclosure is to set the initial information of the anchoring object (target) of a ship with high accuracy. A ship navigation assistance system according to the present disclosure includes a provisional initial information specifier, a measurement sensor and processing circuitry. The provisional initial information specifier may accept a specification of provisional initial information for characteristic information on an object to which a ship anchors or docks (docks to a pier). The measurement sensor may acquire measurement information on an object using a ranging result of an area including the object.