Real-Time Estimation of Directional Wave Spectra Using Non-Stationary Ship Motion Data

The Bayesian modeling procedure is modified for real-time estimation of directional wave spectra using non-stationary ship motion data. The assumption of stationary stochastic processes is applied to the seaway, but not to ship response because it also depends on ship maneuvers. Ship response is strongly affected by changes in the encounter angle and frequency of waves. Therefore, it is need to be a real-time algorithm that can deal with non-stationary stochastic processes and estimate the directional wave spectra. In the proposed algorithm, the iterative calculations of the non-linear equations were optimized and the convergence was not achieved at every time step, but was achieved gradually over several time steps. In order to examine the reliability of the proposed method, real-time estimation was conducted by using the data of onboard experiments. Comparisons between the results of the proposed algorithm and a wave monitoring radar system show good agreements.