Target trailing with safe navigation with colregs for maritime autonomous surface vehicles
First Claim
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1. A system for navigating an unmanned waterborne surface vehicle safely to a desired location, comprising:
- one or more sensors configured to be mounted on an unmanned waterborne surface vehicle, said one or more sensors configured to detect the presence of one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle in the vicinity of said one or more sensors, each of said one or more sensors having a control terminal configured to allow control of said sensor, and each of said one or more sensors having an output terminal configured to provide a signal representative of said presence of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle; and
a general purpose programmable computer including instruction recorded on a machine readable memory, said general purpose programmable computer operatively coupled to each of said one or more sensors, said general purpose programmable computer when operating under said instructions configured to perform the following steps;
(i) controlling an operational state of each of said one or more sensors, said operational state selected from the group of operational states consisting of an on state and an off state;
(ii) receiving from said one or more sensors one or more respective output signals representative of the presence of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle;
(iii) deducing from said received one or more respective output signals whether there is present said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle;
(iv) if there is present said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle, computing for each such object a location, a velocity and a heading;
(v) applying a first set of rules configured to direct said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to reach a desired location;
(vi) applying a second set of rules configured to direct said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to avoid each of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle that are present;
(vii) generating a command to be issued to said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to operate at a particular velocity and along a particular heading, so as to approach said desired location while avoiding a collision with each of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle that are present; and
(viii) iteratively repeating steps (i) through (vii) until said desired location is reached.
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Abstract
Systems and methods for operating autonomous waterborne vessels in a safe manner. The systems include hardware for identifying the locations and motions of other vessels, as well as the locations of stationary objects that represent navigation hazards. By applying a computational method that uses a maritime navigation algorithm for avoiding hazards and obeying COLREGS using Velocity Obstacles to the data obtained, the autonomous vessel computes a safe and effective path to be followed in order to accomplish a desired navigational end result, while operating in a manner so as to avoid hazards and to maintain compliance with standard navigational procedures defined by international agreement. The systems and methods have been successfully demonstrated on water with radar and stereo cameras as the perception sensors, and integrated with a higher level planner for trailing a maneuvering target.
90 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for navigating an unmanned waterborne surface vehicle safely to a desired location, comprising:
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one or more sensors configured to be mounted on an unmanned waterborne surface vehicle, said one or more sensors configured to detect the presence of one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle in the vicinity of said one or more sensors, each of said one or more sensors having a control terminal configured to allow control of said sensor, and each of said one or more sensors having an output terminal configured to provide a signal representative of said presence of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle; and a general purpose programmable computer including instruction recorded on a machine readable memory, said general purpose programmable computer operatively coupled to each of said one or more sensors, said general purpose programmable computer when operating under said instructions configured to perform the following steps; (i) controlling an operational state of each of said one or more sensors, said operational state selected from the group of operational states consisting of an on state and an off state; (ii) receiving from said one or more sensors one or more respective output signals representative of the presence of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle; (iii) deducing from said received one or more respective output signals whether there is present said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle; (iv) if there is present said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle, computing for each such object a location, a velocity and a heading; (v) applying a first set of rules configured to direct said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to reach a desired location; (vi) applying a second set of rules configured to direct said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to avoid each of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle that are present; (vii) generating a command to be issued to said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to operate at a particular velocity and along a particular heading, so as to approach said desired location while avoiding a collision with each of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle that are present; and (viii) iteratively repeating steps (i) through (vii) until said desired location is reached. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of navigating an unmanned waterborne surface vehicle safely to a desired location, comprising the steps of:
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(i) controlling an operational state of each of one or more sensors, said operational state selected from the group of operational states consisting of an on state and an off state, said one or more sensors configured to detect the presence of one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle in the vicinity of said one or more sensors, each of said one or more sensors having a control terminal configured to allow control of said sensor, and each of said one or more sensors having an output terminal configured to provide a signal representative of said presence of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle; and using a general purpose programmable computer including instruction recorded on a machine readable memory to perform the following steps; (ii) receiving from said one or more sensors one or more respective output signals representative of the presence of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle; (iii) deducing from said received one or more respective output signals whether there is present said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle; (iv) if there is present said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle, computing for each such object a location, a velocity and a heading; (v) applying a first set of rules configured to direct said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to reach a desired location; (vi) applying a second set of rules configured to direct said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to avoid each of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle that are present; (vii) generating a command to be issued to said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle to operate at a particular velocity and along a particular heading, so as to approach said desired location while avoiding a collision with each of said one or more objects different from said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle that are present; and (viii) iteratively repeating steps (i) through (vii) until said desired location is reached by said unmanned waterborne surface vehicle initially located at a first known location. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification
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Current AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
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Original AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
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InventorsKuwata, Yoshiaki, Wolf, Michael T., Zarzhitsky, Dimitri V., Aghazarian, Hrand, Huntsberger, Terrance L., Howard, Andrew B.
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Primary Examiner(s)Cheung, Calvin
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Assistant Examiner(s)SHUDY, ANGELINA M
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Application NumberUS13/446,899Publication NumberTime in Patent Office900 DaysField of Search701/21, 701/3, 701/23, 701/300, 701/301, 701/519US Class Current701/21CPC Class CodesG05D 1/00 Control of position, course...G05D 1/02 Control of position or cour...G05D 1/0206 specially adapted to water ...
