An energy-efficient path planning algorithm for unmanned surface vehicles

It is well known that path planning has always been an important study area for intelligent ships, especially for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). Therefore, it is necessary to study the path-planning algorithm for USVs. As one of the basic algorithms for USV path planning, the rapidly-exploring random tree (RRT) is popular due to its simple structure, high speed and ease of modification. However, it also has some obvious drawbacks and problems. Designed to perfect defects of the basic RRT and improve the performance of USVs, an enhanced algorithm of path planning is proposed in this study, called the adaptive hybrid dynamic stepsize and target attractive force-RRT(AHDSTAF-RRT). The ability to pass through a narrow area and the forward speed in open areas of USVs are improved by adopting the AHDSTAF-RRT in comparison to the basic RRT algorithm. The improved algorithm is also applied to an actual gulf map for simulation experiments, and the experimental data is collected and organized. Simulation experiments show that the proposed AHDSTAF-RRT in this paper outperforms several existing RRT algorithms, both in terms of path length and calculating speed.

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An application-orientated anti-collision path planning algorithm for unmanned surface vehicles

Ocean Engineering ◽

10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.109298 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 235 ◽

pp. 109298

Author(s):

Shengke Ni ◽

Zhengjiang Liu ◽

Dengjun Huang ◽

Yao Cai ◽

Xin Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Path Planning ◽

Unmanned Surface Vehicles ◽

Planning Algorithm ◽

Path Planning Algorithm

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Energy Efficient Cubical layered Path Planning Algorithm (EECPPA) for acoustic UWSNs

2017 IEEE Pacific Rim Conference on Communications, Computers and Signal Processing (PACRIM) ◽

10.1109/pacrim.2017.8121900 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Muhammad Aslam ◽

Fan Wang ◽

Zefeng Lv ◽

Muhammad Asad ◽

Samra Zafar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Path Planning ◽

Energy Efficient ◽

Planning Algorithm ◽

Path Planning Algorithm

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A Locking Sweeping Method Based Path Planning for Unmanned Surface Vehicles in Dynamic Maritime Environments

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering ◽

10.3390/jmse8110887 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (11) ◽

pp. 887

Author(s):

Jiayuan Zhuang ◽

Jing Luo ◽

Yuanchang Liu

Keyword(s):

Path Planning ◽

Unmanned Surface Vehicles ◽

Intelligent Decision Making ◽

Moving Obstacles ◽

Time Operation ◽

Real Time Operation ◽

Planning Algorithm ◽

Sweeping Method ◽

Planning Algorithms ◽

Path Planning Algorithm

Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are new marine intelligent platforms that can autonomously operate in various ocean environments with intelligent decision-making capability. As one of key technologies enabling such a capability, path planning algorithms underpin the navigation and motion control of USVs by providing optimized navigational trajectories. To accommodate complex maritime environments that include various static/moving obstacles, it is important to develop a computational efficient path planning algorithm for USVs so that real-time operation can be effectively carried out. This paper therefore proposes a new algorithm based on the fast sweeping method, named the locking sweeping method (LSM). Compared with other conventional path planning algorithms, the proposed LSM has an improved computational efficiency and can be well applied in dynamic environments that have multiple moving obstacles. When generating an optimal collision-free path, moving obstacles are modelled with ship domains that are calculated based upon ships’ velocities. To evaluate the effectiveness of the algorithm, particularly the capacity in dealing with practical environments, three different sets of simulations were undertaken in environments built using electronic nautical charts (ENCs). Results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively cope with complex maritime traffic scenarios by generating smooth and safe trajectories.

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Rapid global path planning algorithm for unmanned surface vehicles in large-scale and multi-island marine environments

PeerJ Computer Science ◽

10.7717/peerj-cs.612 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. e612

Author(s):

Dong Wang ◽

Jie Zhang ◽

Jiucai Jin ◽

Deqing Liu ◽

Xingpeng Mao

Keyword(s):

Path Planning ◽

Large Scale ◽

Distance Constraint ◽

Marine Environments ◽

Fast Marching ◽

Unmanned Surface Vehicles ◽

Grid Map ◽

Global Path Planning ◽

Planning Algorithm ◽

Path Planning Algorithm

A global path planning algorithm for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) with short time requirements in large-scale and complex multi-island marine environments is proposed. The fast marching method-based path planning for USVs is performed on grid maps, resulting in a decrease in computer efficiency for larger maps. This can be mitigated by improving the algorithm process. In the proposed algorithm, path planning is performed twice in maps with different spatial resolution (SR) grids. The first path planning is performed in a low SR grid map to determine effective regions, and the second is executed in a high SR grid map to rapidly acquire the final high precision global path. In each path planning process, a modified inshore-distance-constraint fast marching square (IDC-FM2) method is applied. Based on this method, the path portions around an obstacle can be constrained within a region determined by two inshore-distance parameters. The path planning results show that the proposed algorithm can generate smooth and safe global paths wherein the portions that bypass obstacles can be flexibly modified. Compared with the path planning based on the IDC-FM2 method applied to a single grid map, this algorithm can significantly improve the calculation efficiency while maintaining the precision of the planned path.

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