Library
home (Home) TU Delft Repository login Login

Path planning for autonomous ships

A hybrid approach based on improved apf and modified vo methods

Journal Article (2021)
Author(s)

Liang Zhang (Hubei Key Laboratory of Inland Shipping Technology, Wuhan University of Technology)

Junmin Mou (Hubei Key Laboratory of Inland Shipping Technology, Wuhan University of Technology)

Pengfei Chen (Wuhan University of Technology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Inland Shipping Technology)

Mengxia Li (Wuhan University of Technology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Inland Shipping Technology, TU Delft - Safety and Security Science)

DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9070761 Final published version
More Info
expand_more
Publication Year
2021
Language
English
Issue number
7
Volume number
9
Article number
761
Downloads counter
433
Collections
Institutional Repository
Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Abstract

In this research, a hybrid approach for path planning of autonomous ships that generates both global and local paths, respectively, is proposed. The global path is obtained via an improved artificial potential field (APF) method, which makes up for the shortcoming that the typical APF method easily falls into a local minimum. A modified velocity obstacle (VO) method that incorpo-rates the closest point of approach (CPA) model and the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), based on the typical VO method, can be used to get the local path. The contribution of this research is two-fold: (1) improvement of the typical APF and VO methods, making up for previous shortcomings, and integrated COLREGS rules and good seamanship, making the paths obtained more in line with navigation practice; (2) the research included global and local path planning, considering both the safety and maneuverability of the ship in the process of avoiding collision, and studied the whole process of avoiding collision in a relatively entirely way. A case study was then conducted to test the proposed approach in different situations. The results indicate that the proposed approach can find both global and local paths to avoid the target ship.