Continuous-time system identification of a ship on a river

Model-based control strategies require accurate modeling of a system. Physical modeling leads to differential equations where the parameters can then be estimated from experimental data. In this paper, we present the continuous-time identification of the ship dynamics based on real data collected in open loop. In particular, the models for the drift and yaw dynamics are estimated for one ship. The obtained models show good results when tested with validation data and could be used, for example, for autopilot control strategies.