an autopilot, and its function

1. CONSTANTA MARITIME UNIVERFSITY
CONSTANTA.
* PRESENTER: ODADERIA
FAVOUR.A.

2. ELECTRICAL NAVIGATION DEVICE PROJECT
TOPIC:
AUTOPILOT

3. AUTOPILOT DEFINITION
*Autopilot is a navigational device
that automatically keeps ships or
plane or spacecraft on steady course.

5. HOW AUTOPILOT WORK
An autopilot is maybe one of the most advanced
and technically sophisticated instruments you can
have in your boat. It does have all the intelligence
needed to automatically steer your boat ones you
have told it the direction to steer or where you
want to go. Ones installed it’s quiet easy to use it
but it can be good to understand how it’s
functioning and why it behaves in the way it does
if the situation becomes difficult. Knowing your
equipment is important for safety at sea.

7. Modes of operation, an autopilot can work in
one of several modes dependent on what you
want to do with it. At start up it will always
go in to manual or stand-by mode. The
different modes are explained below:
Auto Mode, the autopilot is activated and
steers the boat to the reference course which is
then shown on the display. The reference
course will be the course the boat has when
auto mode is selected. You can change this
desired reference course by pressing the arrow
buttons on AP47 and AP55 or by rotating the
course knob on AP4 and AP9.

9. * Manual Mode,
GPS Mode. In this mode the autopilot gets steering information from a
separate GPS unit. All Autopilots with GPS connected for navigation can follow
a track to a distant bearing and can follow a route of multiple way points and
automatically turn to a new reference course when switching to next way
point. In the picture below, you can see how it looks on a GPS plotter.

10. PowerSteeringMode. In this mode the boats
helm system is controlled by the
helmsman with buttons on the
Display unit. Since the autopilot is in
commandof the helm system through its
drive unit, this is a convenient way
to steer the boat and to get power
steering.This can also be done by a
remote device on a cable or a second
steering station fixed mounted while
away from the main steering wheel.
Since the autopilot controls a power
steering system, options are available to
use this to steer the vessel by hand
while away from the main wheel.This
can be done by a hand-held device on a
cable or a permanently mounted second
steering station.

11. SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY
The Autopilot is
designed to learn your
vessel's steering
characteristics, allowing
for real-time, dynamic
adjustments to make
the ships steering more
accurate and efficient.
The continuous self-
tuning adaptation is
unique compared to all
other autopilots in the
industry.

12. BASIC OPERATION OF AUTOPILOT
1. TO INITIALIZE THE AUTOPILOT
STANDBY MODE
! Turn the master select switch to
the STANDBY position. The display
will
show the vessel's current compass
heading. If the heading displayed by
the
autopilot does not agree with the
compass, press the ADJUST key
twice
to display the current heading
offset, and
then use the up or down ARROW
key to
adjust the offset by the amount of
the
error.
2. TO POWER STEER THE VESSEL
POWER STEER MODE
! To turn the rudder to port and to
starboard, turn the master select
switch
to the POWER STEER position.
While
either the red or green ARROW key
is
pressed, the display will show the
vessel’s rudder angle and will show
the
vessel's current compass heading
at all
other times.

13. 3. TO BEGIN AUTOPILOT
CONTROL
OF THE VESSEL:
! To have the vessel continue on
its
present heading under autopilot
control,
turn the master select switch to
the
PILOT position.
! To select either the 'FAST'
(High
Speed) mode or the 'Slow' (Low
Speed)
mode, press the ADJUST
key once
followed by the up or down
ARROW key.
This will be done automatically if
the
speed sensitive switching has
been
4. TO CHANGE THE
VESSEL'S
COURSE:
! To obtain the desired course,
leave the master select switch
in the
PILOT position. Estimate the
number of
degrees of course change
required.
! Until the display shows the
desired course, alter the
course in one
degree steps by pressing and
releasing
either the red or green
ARROW key.

14. The autopilot is
normally mounted in
the
vessel's wheelhouse.
It can also be
mounted in a more
exposed location,
such as the bridge of
a vessel as you can
see in the picture.
CONCLUSION
The autopilot helps and make navigation easy. Its
also help in making navigation safe for seafarers.

15. Reference
www.autopilot.com
wiki.flightgear.org/Autopilot
www.raymarine.com
www.westmarine.com/marine-autopilots