A method for the automatic positioning of a vessel, the method including a command source for inputting a desired vessel position or rate to control laws, the control laws for determining a force or moment required for achieving the desired position or rate, an external forces determinant for determining disturbing forces and moments acting on the vessel, a feed forward mechanism for combining the force or moment from the control laws and the disturbing forces and moments, to produce a resultant force and a resultant moment for processing by thrust allocation logic, the thrust allocation logic for determining the allocation of a force and a moment to be generated by propulsion effectors, the propulsion effectors for positioning the vessel, and wherein the thrust allocation logic includess the application of numerical optimization techniques to force and moment allocation.

A method and apparatus for controlling model vehicles in a manner which accurately simulates the operation of real vehicles. Parameters relating to operational characteristics of a vehicle, environmental conditions, loading conditions, operator control settings, and physical characteristics of a controllable model are processed by a computer to determine appropriate control functions to a model allowing it to accurately replicate the operation of a real vehicle operating under the same set of conditions.

An automated guided vehicle (AGV) control system which is downward compatible with existing guidewire systems providing both guidewire navigation and communication and autonomous navigation and guidance and wireless communication between a central controller and each vehicle. Autonomous vehicle navigation comprises travel over paths marked by update markers which may be spaced well apart, such as fifty feet Redundant measurement capability comprising inputs from linear travel encoders from the vehicle's drive wheels, position measurements from the update markers, and bearing measurements from a novel angular rate sensing apparatus, in combination with the use of a Kalman filter, allows correction for navigation and guidance errors caused by such factors as angular rate sensor drift, wear, temperature changes, aging, and early miscalibration during vehicle operation. The control system comprises high frequency two-way data transmission and reception capability over the guidewires and via wireless communications The same data rates and message formats are used in both communications systems. Substantially the same communications electronics are used for the central controller and each vehicle. Novel navigation and guidance algorithms are used to select and calculate a non-linear path to each next vehicle waypoint when the vehicle is operating in the autonomous mode. The non-linear path comprises an initial direction equal to the heading of the vehicle as it enters the path and a waypoint heading defined as part of the message received from the central control system which plans and controls travel of each vehicle in the system.