From submarines to sunspots: Challenges in ship position control

Ship position control is enabling extraction of oil and gas from hitherto inaccessible locations and in extreme conditions. It is now also assisting in the deployment and maintenance of installations for the burgeoning offshore renewable energy industry. The paper examines the systems and control engineering challenges of providing safe ship positioning in an inhospitable environment. It looks at the shortcomings of a number of technologies and underlines the need for multiple diverse techniques to be brought together in a single system.