Real Time Estimation of Local Wave Characteristics from Ship Motions Using Artificial Neural Networks

Wave characteristics such as significant wave height, peak period and main direction have an important effect on all aspects of ship operations. Yet, estimation of these characteristics in real time in an accurate, robust and efficient manner poses a significant challenge. Current approaches include using wave buoys, wave radars, weather forecasts and regression based on ship motion statistics. External sources are not always available or reliable, and wave radars are expensive. Statistics based methods work reasonably well for wave height, but fail to estimate peak period and relative wave direction.