DYNAMIC POSITIONING

Introduction

Dynamic Positioning (DP), like conventional mooring, is a means of maintaining a floating

vessel at a specified location with respect to a reference point and at a specified heading using
propellers and/or thrusters. For drilling, the reference point usually is the wellhead on the
seafloor.
Dynamic Positioning and its associated technology have evolved over the past forty years. The
control of a vessel’s position by the use of thrusters, rather than mooring lines and anchors, was
originally conceived for positioning coring ships in deepwater where deploying anchors was not
possible. The Cuss I was the first ship to maintain its station by dynamic positioning on 9 March
1961 in 948m water depth offshore La Jolla, California. The ship was equipped with four 200 HP
thrusters. Each individual thruster was manually controlled to maintain the vessel's position and
heading. The system employed a surface radar receiving echoes from four buoys and a sonar
interrogating subsea beacons to provide a position reference. This arrangement was nowhere
near today's definition of Dynamic Positioning.
As one can imagine, maintaining an acceptable watch circle by simultaneous manual control of
a number of thrusters would be quite tedious. This gave rise to the need for automatic control.
The coring vessel Eureka, working for Shell Oil, also in 1961, was the first to be fitted with
analog controllers of a very basic nature. The system made use of two steerable thrusters fore
and aft along with her main propulsion to automatically maintain the vessel's position and
heading.
Further vessels followed such as the "Caldrill", "Glomar Challenger" and "Terebel.” All pioneers
in the development of the dynamic positioning technology. The systems employed were crude
by today's standard, utilizing analog controllers with no consideration given to system
redundancy, but it was a start.
Today's systems are much more sophisticated and complicated but have also become much
more reliable. Modern Dynamic Positioning systems have taken advantage of the tremendous
advances made in computer technology over the past couple of decades. Redundancy has
become integral to the design of modern DP systems. This redundancy includes every aspect of
the DP system; the computers, the position reference inputs, the vessel's power generation and
electrical distribution systems, and the propulsion systems. A modern DP vessel of the highest
classification is capable of maintaining station following the total loss of a single compartment.

Basic Principle of Operation

A dynamically positioned vessel will have, in addition to a number of thrusters, a power system
to supply power to the thrusters, controllers, one or more systems to track the vessel position
and various external sensors. All of these sub-systems must work together as one integral
system to ensure proper vessel positioning.
The DP operator inputs a desired position for the vessel, e.g. directly over the well location. The
position reference system(s) measure the vessel’s position, and if it is different from the desired
position, provide an error signal to the controller. The controller will use the error signal to
command the thrusters in such a fashion as to bring the vessel back to position. For a moored
vessel the mooring system, acting as a large spring, provides the restoring force to counter the
environmental forces that tend to move the vessel off location. For a DP vessel, the DP system
utilizes active control of the thrusters to provide the restoring force and maintain position.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Conventional mooring is being successfully applied in increasing water depths, with the present
record at 7710 ft (2350m), established by Shell in the GOM in 2000. However, equipment
constraints and economic considerations often limit its use to lesser water depths. Drilling
vessels using dynamic positioning can operate in water depths from about 500 ft up to the water
depth limits of the subsea equipment and the marine riser. The water depth record for DP
exploration drilling is currently at 9687 ft (2952 m) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in May 2001 by
Unocal using the DP drill ship Discovery Spirit. The corresponding ExxonMobil records are:
moored drilling in 4864 ft water depth in 1995 by Ocean America and DP drilling in 6695 ft water
depth in 2001 by Glomar Jack Ryan, both in the Gulf of Mexico.
Advantages Disadvantages
 Deepwater applications  Higher power requirements
 Self-propelled, no tugs required to move  Higher fuel cost
from one location to another
 Higher maintenance cost
 No need to hire large expensive anchor
handling boats  Need for specially trained personnel to
operate the sophisticated equipment
 Rapid setup on location
 More vulnerable to failures resulting in
 Rapid move-off capability in storm or the need to emergency disconnect
iceberg conditions
 Greater risk of riser/wellhead damage in
 Ability to head into weather excessive offset/failure to disconnect
scenarios
 Ability to start up in higher sea states
 Higher day rate compared to moored
 Can easily work in areas where damage rigs
to hardware on the seabed, such as
pipelines, is a concern

Dynamic Positioning System

Dynamic Positioning may be defined as a system that automatically controls a vessel's position
and heading by means of active thrusters.
Individuals concerned with the operation of a DP vessel must be aware of the complete
integration of this system with the rest of the vessel. A DP system is not just a standalone
system installed on the bridge. Dynamically positioned vessels are designed around this
capability. The DP system not only includes the electronics on the bridge but also includes the
power generation plant, the electrical distribution system, and the thrusters along with their
control systems. This is just the tip of the iceberg. If the diesel generators are to be considered
part of the DP system, then the supporting systems must also be included, such as the cooling
system, fuel delivery system and the lubrication system, etc. A failure in one of these
subsystems can cascade into a loss of DP. Another example is the dependence of the DP
computers on the cooling provided by the air-conditioning system. Therefore the air-conditioning
system in this compartment must also be considered part of the DP system, since the
computers would not be able to operate without it. So as you can see, developing a robust
system capable of withstanding any single-point failure can influence every aspect of the vessel
design.
During the design stage and initial sea trials Failure Mode and Effect Criticality Analyses
(FMECA) are conducted on the entire system to identify and correct any potential single-point
failure modes. These are very thorough reviews which assess how a single failure can
potentially cascade into larger system failures. Any single-point failures, which can prevent the
system from maintaining station, are addressed and corrected prior to the rig being accepted
from the shipyard. More often than not these single-point failures are corrected through
redundancy.

PRINCIPLES OF OPERATIONS
All vessels have six degrees of movement (Figure 5.1), three rotational and three transitional.
Each is defined as follows:

Rotational Movement
Yaw - This is rotational movement of the bow about a vertical axis. It is this movement which
dictates the vessels heading.
Pitch - This is rotational movement about a transverse axis.
Roll - This is rotational movement about a longitudinal axis or side-to-side.

Translational Movement
Surge - This is movement in the horizontal plane in the forward or aft direction.
Sway - This is movement in the horizontal plane in the transverse direction or
side-to-side.
Heave - This is the vertical movement in the up or down direction.

Figures 5.1 – Six Degrees of Rotation

The DP system is concerned with controlling only three of these movements, surge, sway, and
yaw. The combination of surge and sway define the vessel's position while yaw defines the
vessel's heading. Even though the remaining three freedoms of movement, pitch, roll and
heave, are not controlled by the DP system, they are measured as necessary inputs to correct
the vessel position reference signals.
These motions are detected by the Vertical Reference Unit (VRU).
Both vessel position and heading are controlled about desired input values, known as
"setpoints.” In each case the vessel's actual position and heading must be measured in order to
obtain "feedback" values. The vessel position at a given moment in time is determined through
a range of Position Reference Systems while the vessel heading is provided by one or more
gyro compasses. The difference between the desired setpoints and the measured feedback is
the error. The DP system, in turn, provides thruster commands in attempt to reduce the error to
zero.
WIND

WAVE
FORCES
CURRENT
FORCES

Figure 5.2 – Environmental Forces

Once a rig is on location, external forces (Figure 5.2) act on the vessel structure to move it from
its desired position or heading. These forces include wind, wave and current. To maintain the
desired position or heading the DP system must then produce equal and opposite forces via the
thrusters. The difficult part is to be able to measure these external forces accurately so that the
system knows how much thruster force is needed and which direction to apply it.
Wind can be measured directly using a wind sensor. Wind sensors can provide an accurate and
continuous measurement. This measurement is then fed into the computer for immediate
compensation. Wind compensation is further discussed in section 5.2.6.
An accurate method has not been developed to measure the current and wave forces using
sensors deployed from the vessel. This is because the vessel's structure and/or thruster wash
disturb the waters in the immediate which results in inaccurate measurements. For this reason,
this portion of the external force must be deduced over a period of time by monitoring the rig's
tendency to move off location or change heading. All forces not attributable to direct
measurement (i.e. wind) are combined together and labeled as "current.” The current force is a
combination of current, wave, and swells along with any errors in the system.
MAJOR ELEMENTS
The major elements which make up the DP system include: the computer or controller, the
position sensors and associated auxiliary sensors, and the thrusters (as shown in Figure 5.3).
Of course, an indispensable element is a skilled and alert operator.

Computers
For the most part, modern DP systems utilize off-the-shelf Pentium type computer processors
operating in a Windows environment. The computers may be arranged in a single, dual or triple
configuration, depending on the level of redundancy required. The system communicates via an
Ethernet or Local Area Network (LAN), which incorporates many other vessel control functions.
DP vessels that meet the highest classification requirements (class 3) are triple redundant
consisting of three operator stations and three independent computers. Communication
between the three systems is via a dual high-speed data network. This type of arrangement
significantly increases the reliability of the system compared to a single or even a dual system.
The system is able to detect an error and isolate the faulty data or component. The concept of
majority voting is used to detect and isolate faults.
If a fault is detected in one of the computers or sensors, that computer or sensor is isolated. The
onus does not befall the DP Operator to determine which data or component is correct, as is the
case with dual redundant systems.
The term MMI or man-machine interface has been adopted for the control consoles. Basically
this is where all the input buttons, indicator lights, display screens and maneuvering joystick are
located. The control consoles are typically installed on the bridge along with the other essential
controls such as position reference control units, thruster control console (Figure 5.4),
communication suite, radar and vessel management system console. In some semi-
submersible vessels the DP consoles may be located in a space other than the bridge. The
location is not all that critical, but there is definitely an advantage to having the operator located
in a space that has a view of the outside to provide some orientation during heading and
position changes.

Figure 5.4 - Simrad ADP 703 System Console

For vessels to satisfy the class 3 requirement, a backup computer and control console must be
provided in a separate location from the main system. This is so DP capability is not lost in the
event of a fire or flooding in the compartment housing the main system.
The DP system is protected against power failure by the inclusion of an Uninterruptible Power
Supply (UPS). This system provides a stabilized power supply not affected by short-term
interruptions or fluctuations of the ship's a.c. power supply. Power is supplied to the computers,
consoles, displays, alarms, position- and environment-reference systems. In the event of an
interruption to the main a.c., a bank of batteries will supply power to all of these systems for a
minimum of 30 minutes. Note: this emergency back up applies only to the DP system
electronics and not to the thrusters.

Mathematical Modeling
The DP computers carry out their positioning function by using a feedback control loop as
shown in Figure 5.5. The DP operator inputs the desired position for the vessel into the
controller. The actual position of the vessel is determined by the position reference systems and
is input into the computer.
Based on the position error (desired minus actual), the controller calculates the commands to
the thrusters which provide the necessary forces to counter the environmental forces and

ENVIRONMENTAL
MEASURED WIND FORCES



DESIRED  MOTIONS
CONTROLLER THRUSTERS SHIP
POSITION Fc

 POSITION
THRUSTER
ERRORS
COMMANDS

APPARENT POSITION
POSITION REFERENCE

Figure 5.5 - Dynamic Positioning Control Loop

maintain the vessel on location.Critical to the reliability and performance of a DP vessel is the power
generation, distribution and management system as discussed in detail in Section 5.6.There are three
independent control loops, one each for the surge, sway and yaw axes of the vessel. The three control
axes are coupled by the thruster allocation logic in the controller as shown in Figure 5.6.
 δy
Certain properties of the vessel, such as the displacement, added mass, hydrodynamic and
aerodynamic coefficients must be known in order to design the control system software.

Controller
The controller of a DP system must perform the following main functions:
 Process all data generated by the dynamic positioning sensors, discarding non-significant or
faulty signals, carry out the necessary filtering and computations, and optimize stability of
the implemented control algorithm.
 Determine most probable true position (surge, sway and heading) and command available
thrusters, minimizing power consumption and complying with any other requirements (e.g.
that imposed by power management system).
 Present the operator with up-to-date information on vessel location relative to the reference
point, status information about all equipment including alarms, malfunctioning equipment,
and adequate warnings about potential loss of position.
PID Controller
The earlier generation controllers calculated the thruster commands based on the position error,
the rate of change in position error and time integral of the position error. This controller is
commonly referred to as the PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controller. The "proportional"
control provides the thrust that is analogous to the spring force generated by a mooring system
when the vessel is offset from its equilibrium position. The "derivative" control provides the
controlled damping, and the "integral" control is required to maintain a zero position error. If the
integral term is not included,
a cumulative difference in the measured and reference variables must be tolerated so that the
controller, through the proportional term, can command the necessary steady-state
counterforce.
Kalman Controller
Another type of controller, more commonly used now, uses what is known as Kalman filtering
technology. Functionally these Kalman controllers are analogous to the PID controllers - the
manner in which the proportional, integral and derivative terms are computed is different.
Kalman controllers employ mathematical models and the thruster commands no longer depend
on the difference between required and measured values, but between required values and
values derived from models. The measured values obtained from the position reference
systems and other sensors are used to adjust the models in real time. Use of the modeling
method involves calculation of the forces acting on the vessel and thus requires knowledge of
the numerous hydrodynamic parameters of the vessel. Nevertheless, the Kalman controller can
provide a superior performance relative to the PID controller, as it can include a much better
position signal processing logic, especially in situations where the position signals are
constantly contaminated by ambient noise. Another situation where the Kalman controller is
superior is when the DP system is in a "dead reckoning mode" following complete loss of all
online position sensors. Better dead reckoning performance allows the operating personnel
more time to deal with the situation.
Kalman filtering provides another system improvement. Ocean waves act on a floating vessel in
two ways. First, there is a high frequency component that physically lifts the ship up and puts it
back down in the same place, in an oscillatory and circular motion. Because the high frequency
forces involved are so large, and the thrusters so relatively small, it would be futile to try and
command the thrusters to counter these motions. Second, there is a low frequency component
where the ship drifts slowly off position due to low frequency forces, called wave drift forces.
This effect can be witnessed when watching a seagull floating in waves; it moves around in a
vertical circle in each wave but only drifts along very slowly.
One of the controller requirements, therefore, is to remove the high frequency component from
the position measurements so as to prevent the control system, and therefore the thrusters,
reacting to it. Applying Kalman filtering and modeling techniques to the processing of the error
signal has achieved improved filtering of the wave frequency motions without introducing a lag
in the system, and thus has improved controller performance.

System Response and Stability

The basic performance characteristics of a DP closed loop control system are the system
response time, the thruster modulations and the stability of the system. First and foremost, the
control system must be stable, i.e., its time response to a disturbance must converge with time
and not increase without bound. However, stability in itself is not sufficient, and the gain
parameters in the controller are designed to provide acceptable response time and minimize
thruster modulations, in addition to providing a stable control system. The optimal gain
parameters depend on the vessel characteristics, thruster capacity and response, position
sensor noise characteristics and the expected operating conditions of the vessel. In addition to
performing gain margin tests for new or modified DP vessels to ensure adequate stability and
acceptable response, some "tuning" of the system is required if significantly different operating
conditions are encountered. Usually, the operator can select low, normal or high gain settings
for the system depending on conditions.