Dynamic Positioning Ship
Jobs
Some of the vessel categories that utilize dynamic
positioning includes are ships, cruise ships, oceanographic research vessels
and semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling units (MODU), pipe laying
vessels, derrick vessels, etc.
Dynamic positioning (DP) is a computer based
technique to mechanically maintain a vessel's heading and position by
using its own propellers and thrusters. The vessel's position, the magnitude
and direction of environmental forces affecting the ship’s position are feed to
the 
computer system by position indication sensors, collective with gyrocompasses,
wind sensors and movement sensors.
The computer software includes a mathematical representation
of the ship that incorporates information concerning to the wind and current
drag of the vessel and the position of the thrusters. This information, shared with
the sensor information, permits the computer to evaluate the necessary steering
angle and thruster output for each thruster.
This lets vessel’s actions at sea where anchoring
or fastening is not possible because of deeper water, obstruction on the sea
bottom (pipelines, shapes, etc) or other difficulties.
Dynamic positioning system may be of any of types
like be definite in that the position is locked to a fixed aim above the seabed,
or comparative to a target in motion like a different ship or an underwater
vehicle. Dynamic
positioning system may also position a ship at a positive angle
towards wind, current and waves called weathervaning.
Dynamic positioning is utilized mainly in the
offshore oil and gas fields, for example in the 
Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, Persian
Gulf, North Sea and off the coast of Brazil and nearly in most of the offshore
fields. But, Dynamic positioning is also used by cruise ships, research vessels
etc. There are currently more than 1900 DP ships.
