MPC-based path planning for ship collision avoidance under COLREGS

Abstract

In recent years, maritime operations have become more technologically demanding due to the more complex working condition and stricter safety requirements. The need to improve the performance of human-machine cooperation in navigation through a more intelligent system in path planning, while taking into account the human factors, is more and more urgent. In this paper, a model predictive control (MPC) optimization scheme is proposed for collision-free path planning taking into account the ship dynamics and International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) explicitly. It utilizes three potential fields which are designed based on COLREGS and the experience of navigators. Different tuning parameter sets are tested in a single encounter scenario including give-way, head-on and overtaking, and multiple ship encounter with 5 target ships is evaluated. The simulation shows promising results where the own ship can perform evasive action according to different encounter types following COLREGS Rule 13-15 and achieve the target positions while maintaining a safe distance during the collision avoidance period. The shortest distances between the own ship and target ships in multiple encounter scenario are all larger than 250m, which further proves the effectiveness of the algorithm.