Abstract
AbstractWe present results from sea trials for an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) equipped with a collision avoidance system based on model predictive control (MPC). The sea trials were performed in the North Sea as part of an ASV Challenge posed by Deltares through a Dutch initiative involving different authorities, including the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Netherlands Coastguard, and the Royal Netherlands Navy. To allow an ASV to operate in a maritime environment governed by the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs), the ASV must be capable of complying with COLREGs. Therefore, the sea trials focused on verifying COLREGs‐compliant behavior of the ASV in different challenging scenarios using automatic identification system (AIS) data from other vessels. The scenarios cover situations where some obstacle vessels obey COLREGs and emergency situations where some obstacles make decisions that increase the risk of collision. The MPC‐based collision avoidance method evaluates a combined predicted collision and COLREGs‐compliance risk associated with each obstacle and chooses the ‘best’ way out of dangerous situations. The results from the verification exercise in the North Sea show that the MPC approach is capable of finding safe solutions in challenging situations, and in most cases demonstrates behaviors that are close to the expectations of an experienced mariner. According to Deltares’ report, the sea trials have shown in practice that the technical maturity of autonomous vessels is already more than expected.
Highlights
Autonomous collision avoidance is at the core of the research and development efforts made towards autonomy in maritime navigation
Since no special rules and regulations existed for autonomous vehicles at the time of the tests, the main task of the autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) was to demonstrate compliance to the existing “rules of the road”, COLREGs (Cockcroft & Lameijer, 2012; IMO, 1972), which is applicable to all marine vessels in the North Sea
We have specified a larger set of alternative modifications for the ASV’s course χmk than that for speed umk, and we tuned the cost function in (1) to prioritize course changes over speed. This ensures that the actions of the ASV in a dangerous situation are clear and easy to observe by other vessels, especially those operated by humans
Summary
Autonomous collision avoidance is at the core of the research and development efforts made towards autonomy in maritime navigation. By adapting scenarios on the fly, challenging situations that developed due to an unexpected change in obstacle behavior were explored in the sea trials This test approach, which considers spontaneous/ unrehearsed changes in obstacle behavior, may be adopted by researchers for field testing and benchmarking of maritime collision avoidance methods. Since no special rules and regulations existed for autonomous vehicles at the time of the tests, the main task of the ASV was to demonstrate compliance to the existing “rules of the road”, COLREGs (Cockcroft & Lameijer, 2012; IMO, 1972), which is applicable to all marine vessels in the North Sea. the ASV’s behavior should meet the expectations of experienced mariners, in this case two Commander Lieutenants‐at‐sea (LTZ 2) from the Royal Netherlands Navy. These rules demand an appropriate system for accurate detection, identification, classification, and prediction of the effect of different factors in a complex dynamic maritime environment
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