Marine propulsion control system and method
AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorsMatthew E. Derginer, Travis C. Malouf, Aaron J. Ward
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of controlling a propulsion system on a marine vessel includes receiving proximity measurements describing locations of one or more objects with respect to the marine vessel, receiving a command vector instructing magnitude and direction for propulsion of the marine vessel with respect to a point of navigation for the marine vessel, and then determining a funnel boundary based on the command vector. When an object is determined to be within the funnel boundary, a propulsion adjustment command is calculated to move the marine vessel such that the object is no longer in the funnel boundary. At least one propulsion device is then controlled based on the propulsion adjustment command.
Claims21
A method of controlling a propulsion system of a marine vessel, the method comprising:
- receiving proximity measurements describing location of an object with respect to the marine vessel;
- receiving a command vector instructing magnitude and direction for propulsion of the marine vessel with respect to a point of navigation for the marine vessel;
- determining a funnel boundary based on the command vector;
- identifying that the object is within the funnel boundary based on the proximity measurements;
- calculating a propulsion adjustment command to move the marine vessel such that the object is no longer in the funnel boundary;
- and
- controlling at least one propulsion device based on the propulsion adjustment command.
A propulsion control system on a marine vessel, the propulsion control system comprising:
- at least one propulsion device;
- at least one proximity sensor system configured to generate proximity measurements describing a proximity of an object with respect to the marine vessel, wherein the at least one proximity sensor system comprises a distance and/or directional sensor;
- a control system, comprising one or more controllers, configured to:
- receive proximity measurements describing location of the object with respect to the marine vessel;
- receive a command vector instructing magnitude and direction for propulsion of the marine vessel with respect to a point of navigation;
- determine a funnel boundary based on the command vector;
- identify that the object is within the funnel boundary based on the proximity measurements;
- calculate a propulsion adjustment command to move the marine vessel such that the object is no longer in the funnel boundary;
- and
- control at least one propulsion device based on the propulsion adjustment command.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.