Radar-Based Collision Avoidance on Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV)

Abstract

The development of a viable unmanned surface vehicles (USV) is gaining momentum due to its diverse military and commercial applications. The fundamental problem in USV design is to overcome the measurement uncertainty of the sensors attached to the USV in the marine environment. The aim of this research is to create a collision avoidance model based on the ARPA radar with navigation information about the targets position and path. Information about moving and approaching targets is urgently needed to give USV more autonomy in understanding their environment. This information can help make an initial decision in the collision avoidance algorithm, as shown in this study. The classification of targets is performed based on radar plotting principle. Data of target’s CPA and the distance of approaching target is then calculated. This way of processing reduces the computational effort and gives more reliable results. Despite some limitations, the results show that the proposed method can be used as an alternative model for avoiding collision with a target ship approaching own ship.