Path Planning for Multiple Unmanned Surface Vehicles Using Glasius Bio-Inspired Neural Network With Hungarian Algorithm

In this article, we focus on the cooperative path planning for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) composed of single-USV path planning and multi-USVs task assignment. First, the Glasius bioinspired neural network (GBNN) is used to calculate the neural activity for the discretized working space of USV, and the ocean current is considered in the definition of neuron connection weight especially. The standard path of single USV for obstacle avoidance between start point and destination can hence be planned. Then, based on the result of neural activity values from GBNN, the cost matrix of the Hungarian algorithm is built and modified for the task assignment among multi-USVs, and the unbalanced problem is well resolved. Consequently, the task points are allocated to USVs and prioritized effectively, and each USV just needs to visit the corresponding task points respectively along the standard paths by GBNN to accomplish the task. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.