Implementation and Enhancement of Set-Based Guidance by Velocity Obstacle along with LiDAR for Unmanned Surface Vehicles

In hazardous conditions, the use of an autonomous unmanned surface vessel (USV) may be a solution to an obstacle avoidance problem with minimal human intervention but maximal efficiency. This article describes a method of utilizing Velocity Obstacle algorithm to enhance collision-free paths of Set-Based Guidance (SBG) for USV equipped with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) for detecting obstacles. Additionally, we also propose a novel trapezium path with three waypoints instead of a single waypoint as conventional SBG. Moreover, we build a hardware architecture for USV to realize the obstacle avoidance algorithm in practice. To verify safety, efficacy, and pragmatics, simulations are conducted in situations of static obstacles with different shapes and moving ship in three typical collision scenarios: head-on, overtaking, and crossing. Finally, experiments with a real static are carried out and experimental results prove that the advanced SBG is able to guide USV to avoid collision automatically.