Universitatea POLITEHNICA din Bucureşti

Şcoala Doctorală Transporturi

RAPORT ŞTIINŢIFIC NR. 1

Overview of Dynamic Position (DP) System
and its impact on offshore industry

Conducator de doctorat :
Prof.univ.mat.ec. Carp Doina Eufrosina

Student-doctorand:
Ciucanu Alexandra

BUCURESTI

2023

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 Overview of Dynamic Position (DP) System and its impact on
offshore industry

1.Dynamic Positioning may be defined as a system which automatically controls a vessel to

maintain her position and heading exclusively by means of active thrust. [Nils A., 2016]
1.1 History of DP and Offshore industry has its roots in the imagination of a great
writer, Jules Verne. In his book “The propelled Island” was presented for the first
time in history the usage of a twin propped body, which was an island, to keep a
floating body position without any helm or rudder. [Nils A., 2016]
The system started as a hybrid on board a ship struggling to keep a relatively dynamic position
but on a circle of 180 m diameter. Up until nowadays performance of keeping MODU 1 or ship in
a circle of few meters was a long and challenging journey, but the DP enhancement seems to
never stop.

Fig. 1.1 DP Offshore- Multiple ships operation in confined area

[Source: DNV.com]

The start of the DP concept was pushed by the increased demand for oil and gas post second
world war [Fossen T., 1996]. A report submitted by IEA2 reveals a negative ratio of supply/demand
of oil between the ’80-’90 [iea.org], in this time frame the number of the ships with the DP system
has significantly grown, up to 150 ships with full system on board. The growth was possible
also due to the Satellite Position system being developed [ Jann P,2001]. In 1990 DPVOA3 was
founded and legal frame and building regulations were taking shape in collaboration with IMO 4

1
MODU-Mobile Offshore Drilling Unite
2
IEA- International Energy Agency
3
DPVOA- Dynamic Positioning Vessels Owner Association
4
IMO-International Maritime Organization

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 The research is based on the impact of DP5 in developing the offshore
[Bray D.,2011] [LRS,1997].
industry and the future of it, as the system is expanding and finding itself on a continuous
improvement on board other ships. Optimum control system for DP became a challange
[Dev.Arun,2012] and solutions were found when research was done based on Kalman filter and
optimum control [Balchen K,1980], as well as on the previews history [Bennet S, 1979].
The biggest challange when deepening in the research was the constant weather change during
the day [Newman J,1974] [Faltinse O,1990] and allocating thrust to compensate it [ Sorensen A, 2000].
Given all the sensitive operations that are done while using the DP on board ships (eg. Drilling
oil, contruction of wind farms, laying pipes, diving, etc), redundancy became a key word when
refering to it [IMCA,2002].
1.2 The system is used on board ships making special operations on water such as:
drilling, construction, pipe laying, supply, crew transfer, etc. The redundancy and
classification of the DP type ships separates them into three big classes [MSC Circ.645] on
which class 1 has the lowest redundancy and class 3 is the most capable to sustain
operation in single point failure. [DNV 2004]

Fig 1.2 DP System components-General view

[Source: Desai N., 2015]

The class of DP is given by the redundancy level of the:

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DP-Dynamic Position

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 ● PMS6- one or more redundant to blackout methods (EDG7 or Batteries);

● OS8- not a must on DP1 but at least 2 stations on the DP2 &DP3;

● Propulsion - separate engine rooms for class 2 and 3;

● PRS9- starting with at least 2 in separate locations bordered by class A-60 bulkhead;

● CPS - controller process stations.

Main DP components are:

● The power plant,

● The thrust,

● The control Network; [DP Basic ]

All of the components communicate together and deliver the ship's reaction based on the external
forces: wind, waves, current, external motion; which are measured with specific instruments and
checked against the position reference system, which can be a mixture of following methods:
Differential GPS, laser, hydroacoustic, taut wire, microwave, see table 2.
Table 1. DP Classes separation and their minimum required redundancy.
[Source: IMCA Guidelines for the Design and Operation of Dynamically Positioning Vessels, 2007]

DP1 DP2 DP3

PMS Redundancy not  PMS must have at least 2 independent
mandatory systems to keep the ship in standby ;
 At least one (PMS) ust have protection to
blackout;
 System must be tested and prove to be
provide enough power for each single point
failure.
CPS Redundancy not  At leats 2 CPS must Additional to DP2,
mandatory be capable of  One CPS must
keeping ships be placed on a
position in case of A60 bulkhead
one single failure compartment.
 Automatic transfer

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PMS-Power Management System
7
EDG-Emergency Diesel Generator
8
OS-operators station
9
PRS- Position Reference System

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 of data such as the
ship will not loose
her course and
speed;
 Consecutive
analisys system .
Propulsion Redundancy not Closed loop emergency Ships vitality and fire
mandatory stop button. hazard to be taken
into consideration.
PRS At least one PRS At leat three PRS At least 1 PRS must
be conected to the
em’cy supply and
must be placed inside
A60 bulkhead
compartment
MRU Redundancy not At least 3 sensors for wind, At least 3 sensors for
mandatory heading and motion. wind, heading and
motion. At least 1
sensor must be
conected to the em’cy
supply and must be
placed inside A60
bulkhead
compartment If data
from one sensor is
connected to main
DP, the others should
not interfeer as back-
up.
OS  Operator  Idem DP1. Additional to DP 2,
must have  2 OS. one OS must be fitted
direct acces  Self protection or inside A60 bulkhead
to OS doble tap command compartment.
 Maximum for buttons that lead
visibility to em’cy stop.
from OS on
the outer
environment.
 OS must
have visual
and acustic
alert.
 OS must
have in the
vicinity all
operation

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 buttons.

Table 2. PRS types divided in classes

[Source: IMCA Guidelines for the Design and Operation of Dynamically Positioning Vessels, 2007]

Relative PRS Absolite PRS

Laser – Cyscan, Fanbeam Satelite – GPS, DGNSS
Radio wave - Radarscan Hidroacoustic- HPR, HiPAP
Thought wire

2. DP Modeling
The modern DP is based on the estimative mathematical model, since the thrust
allocation is disturbed by environment, sensor failure and as well by prohibited angles of
thrust. This allows the usage of Kalman10 filter in addition to the ship parameter estimation,
which is a nonlinear and multivariable problem. [Fossen T., 1996]
The basic knowledge about ship motions separtates the movements into 3 axis centered
into ships gravity center „G”; x-axis gives the fore-aft motion, positive when ships moves
ahead and negative when astern; y-axis gives the lateral motion, positive when moving to
starboard and negative when moving to port and z-axis gives the up-down motion, positive
when ship is moved up on the wave or swell and negative when moving down. The motion
that can be controlled by DP is fore-aft and port-starboard and the allocated thrust of the
propellers (N) are noted by Fy and Fx. Therefore the allocated thrust is T i=√ f 2x ,i +f 2y ,i, for (fx,i,
fy,i) ∈ R2 , i=1,..N.
Fig 2.1 The allocation thrust forces

[Source: Poppe K., 2010]

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Kalman filter- also known as linear quadratic estimation (LQE), is an algorithm that uses a series of
measurements observed over time, including statistical noise and other inaccuracies, and produces estimates of
unknown variables that tend to be more accurate than those based on a single measurement alone, by estimating
a joint probability distribution over the variables for each timeframe

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 Fig 2.2 The closed loop control system. Measurements of the position of the vessel are compared
with the required position. The difference is fed into an Extended Kalman Filter and PID-
controller to convert this to the force and momentum required to correct the position. The
allocation
[Source: Poppe K., 2010]

Some of the most common models of supporting DP are: Thrust Model, LF 11 , ship dynamics
[Fossen T., 1996], kinematics [Donn. S.,2015]; but the approach on solving the optimization in real
time is computer based and can be simulated before implementing in MATLAB. The
optimization can be direct nonlinear using “fmincon”, or iteration on a linearized Lagrange
problem [Poppe K., 2010].

3. FMEA-Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

Research has been testing the system in various extreme conditions such as failure of equipment
[Desai N. 2015], Ice pack waters [Dai J., 2015], adverse weather conditions and particular
phenomena such as Soliton. As well the engineers and researchers test it at many stages with a
powerful method called FMEA.
FMEA is the best method by far to test the redundancy of the DP capability and to reveal the best
solutions to combat the loss of any asset while performing extreme safety operations.
The extended version of FMEA is the FMECA12 which can be a requirement of organizations or
persons: Classification Societies, charterers, owners, operators or maintenance staff, and can be
performed in the earlier stages of design, in the process of construction, during the sea trails, at
request or “programmed during a convenient period of downtime”.[IMCA 2002]
The outcome of creating a failure of each equipment (one by one) led to significant improvement
in the design, but not only - as well on the biggest uncontrollable aspects in ship operation- crew
reaction and training. [Ishak I., 2019]

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LF-Low frequency
12
FMCA-Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis

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 The Process has a standard setup: selection of team, establishing the standard, details of the
systems to be failed and their functional boundaries and organizing the information; the process
itself includes much more than this: the effect of each failure is analyzed, identifies the corrective
actions, arranging vessel audits, arranging full FMEA DP if needed, advising of any
recommendations. [Military 1980]
4. Future of DP
This system appears to have a never-ending possibilities circle, and as more ships
implement the system, the better the technology goes and its price becomes more accessible. One
of the biggest changes will be rising the safety level, and to make a more accurate MODU 13
Specifications on the safety rules for new build, as a redundancy for emergencies at sea (fire,
collision, grounding, etc).
The improvement of the mathematical model will actually increase the demand on the
performance of positioning systems used, the software behind it, the controllers, and the
redundancy. [Arun D.,2012]
Another theory states that the future of DP will be in implementing the system on the
transportation of containers and passengers.
5. Contribution of the Dynamic Position (DP) systems in developing the
transportation in Offshore industry
Increased demand in energy resources and building of offshore wind farms, which is a big
“consumer” of DP technology, is daily contributing to the DP development. To research, build
and maintain such a place requires different types of ships and each and one of them has a
specific and unquestionable place. But the precision and safety of the operation requires
Dynamic Positioning. [Arun D.,2012]. The research requires steady buoys for specific field
measurements (meteorological and geographical research), as well the building process of
offshore superstructures demands Heavy Lift Crane Vessels with high precision and stability at
maximum lifting capacity. Nevertheless, maintenance of offshore equipment and constructions
create a need for Accomodation Ships to be floating in deep water at the same position, for safe
and efficient crew transfer to the Crew boat.
Dynamic Positioning is a fascinating subject, starting with the system itself, ending with the
future of it. Much research has been made and there is still plenty room for many to describe and
improve the system. One of the possible future is going in the direction of a self docking ships
while assisted by the operator, system that now gives only some prediction without considering
the set or drift caused by weather.

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MODU-Mobile Offshore Drilling Unite

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 References:
1. ***DP Basic Operator course, Kongsberg Maritime Dynamic Positioning System, Ref
321788/Bv;
2. ***Military Standard- procedures for performing a failure mode, effects and criticality
analysis, MIL-STD-1629A, 24 November 1980;
3. ***IMCA (International Marine Contractors Association), Guidance on Failure Modes
and Effects Analysis (FMEAs), IMCA M 166, April 2002;
4. ***MSC circulare 645, Guideline for Vessels with Dyanmic Positioning System,
https://imorules.com/MSCCIRC_645_3.html;
5. ***Review of methods for demonstrating redundancy in dynamic positioning system for
the Offshore industry, DNV consulting 2004;
6. https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-product/oil-information ;
7. Balchen, J. G, Jenssen, N.A., Mathisen E. And Saelid S, Dynamic positioning system based on
Kalman filter and optimum control, Modeling, Identification and Control, 1980;
8. Bennet S. A history of Control System Analysis, Wiley Interscience, New York, 1971;
9. David, Bray FNI, Dynamic Positioning, Oilfield Seamanship Series, Vol 9-2nd ed.
Clarkson Research Limited, ISBN 978-1-902157-44-3;
10. Dev, Arun, Development in Dynamic Positioning Technology and its Future Roadmap,
Safan.com, july-august 2012;
11. Faltinsen, O.M. and Sortland, B., Slow drift eddy making damping of a ship, Appied
Ocean Research, 1987;
12. I.Che Ishak, M. Shaiful Amir Safari, N. Mohd Ali, The Significance of Accidents
Onboard Ships by Human Elements, International Journal of Innovative Technology and
Exploring Engineering (IJITEE), ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-9 Issue-2, December 2019;
13. J.Dai, H.Peng, Numerical modeling for Dynamic Positioning in Pack Ice, XII
International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference Kon, Big Island, Hawaii, June
2015;
14. Jann P.S, Asgeir J.S., Marit R., Thor I. F., Position Control Systems for Offsore Vessels,
The Ocean Engineering Handbook, 2001;
15. K.Poppe, J. Bouwe van der Berg, E.Blank, C.Archer, M. Redeker, M.Kutter, P.Hemker,
Thrust allocation for Dynamical Positioning, SWI 2010;
16. Lloyd’s Register of Shipping LRS, Rules and Regulations for the Clasification of Ships,
Chapter 4,8, 1997;
17. N. Desai, Dynamic Positioning: Method for Disaster prevention and risk Management,
Global ZChallenges, Policy Framework & Sustainable Development for mining of
minerals and Fossil Energy Resource, 2015;

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 18. S.Donnarumma, M.Martelli, S.Vignolo, Numerical models for ships Dynamic
Positioning, VI International Conference on Computation Methods in Marine
Engineering, MARINE 2015;
19. Sorensen, A. J. And Strand, J. P, Positioning of small-waterplane-area marine
contructions with roll and pitch damping. IFAC Journal of Control Engineering Practice,
2000;
20. T.I.Fossen, S.I.Sagatun, A.J.Sorensen, Identification of dynamically positioned ships,
Modeling, Identification and Control, 1996, vol 17, no 2.

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