Local obstacle avoidance for unmanned surface vehicle using a hierarchical strategy

This paper proposes a local obstacle avoidance algorithm for unmanned surface vehicles (USV). It is designed based on the kinetic and basic motion control characteristics of USV. The heading window and linear velocity window are obtained from the dynamic window by using a hierarchical strategy. The angular velocity and linear velocity are obtained from the heading window and linear velocity window with the tangent method and the curve method. For stability of the vessel, a buffering model of angular velocity is designed. Simulation shows that the proposed algorithm has strong capability of obstacle avoidance and high stability. Results of on-boat experiment demonstrate that the algorithm is suitable for the basic control of actual boats, and can guide USV to realize obstacle avoidance in real environment.