This study aims to develop a practical path following controller and examine its control effects for large-sized ships in shallow water. First, a new controller is designed and implemented in a ship manoeuvring simulator, and the controller’s tracking capacity is evaluated via controlling a 6 DOF math model following a prescribed path at various speeds and water depths. Then, towing tank tests are conducted with the corresponding physical model to validate the simulation results. Based on experimental results, comparisons are executed between the proposed controller and the traditional controllers (e.g. fuzzy controller). Finally, the applicability of the controller is investigated through simulations of the ship transiting the Panama Canal, meanwhile, the bank effects on the controller’s performance are discussed. The results show that the designed controller offers satisfactory tracking performance. Simulation results match well with the experimental results despite slight discrepancies. Additionally, satisfactory path following performance is obtained by the simulations in the canal. To conclude, the proposed controller is able to fulfill path following missions in shallow water with high precision and can be applied in the manoeuvring simulator.

本研究旨在开发一种实用的路径跟踪控制器，并检验其对浅水大型船舶的控制效果。首先，在船舶操纵模拟器中设计并实现了一种新的控制器，并通过控制六自由度数学模型在不同速度和水深下遵循规定路径来评估控制器的跟踪能力。然后，利用相应的物理模型进行拖曳水池试验，以验证仿真结果。根据实验结果，将所提出的控制器与传统控制器（例如模糊控制器）进行比较。最后，通过对船舶通过巴拿马运河的仿真研究了控制器的适用性，同时讨论了坡度对控制器性能的影响。结果表明，所设计的控制器具有令人满意的跟踪性能。尽管略有差异，但模拟结果与实验结果吻合良好。此外，通过在运河中的模拟获得了令人满意的路径跟随性能。总之，所提出的控制器能够在浅水中高精度地完成路径跟踪任务，并且可以应用于机动模拟器。