Unmanned Powerboat Motion Terminal Control in an Environment with Moving Obstacles

Abstract

The major point for consideration throughout this paper is controlling the motion of an unmanned powerboat in an obstructed environment with stationary and moving objects. It offers a procedure for the terminal control law development based on the powerboat programmed motion trajectory in a polynomial form and proposes position-trajectory-based control algorithms. A hybrid method based on virtual fields and unstable driving modes, taking into account powerboat speeds and obstacles, is used to plan motion trajectories for obstacle avoidance. There were experiments carried out to test the developed methods and algorithms meanwhile estimating the energy consumption for control, the length of the trajectory and the safety indicator for obstacle avoidance. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the method used to develop a local movement trajectory in the field with obstacles and in the hybridization of trajectory scheduling methods. This approach allows us to achieve a given safe distance when avoiding obstacles and virtually eliminate the chances of an emergency collision. The presented results can be used in systems of boats autonomous motion control and allow safe stationary and dynamic obstacles avoidance.