Path Planning for Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) in obstacle-filled environments

Abstract

For robots with poor mobility such as high-speed unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) or Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), planning a reasonable path for Multi-waypoint missions is very essential. This paper will propose a method to create a smooth curve through given waypoints (WPs) under constraints of the vehicle's turning radius, and in complex obstacle-filled environments. This algorithm is combined with the Line-of-Sight (LOS) guidance and PID controller to become a complete GNC system. We also experimented on an USV model to verify the feasibility of this algorithm.