USV Application Scenario Expansion Based on Motion Control, Path Following and Velocity Planning

The ability of unmanned surface vehicles (USV) on motion control and the accurate following of preset paths is the embodiment of its autonomy and intelligence, while there is extensive room for improvement when expanding its application scenarios. In this paper, a model fusion of USV and preset path was carried out through the Serret-Frenet coordinate system. Control strategies were then scrupulously designed with the help of Lyapunov stability theory, including resultant velocity control in the presence of drift angle, course control based on the nonlinear backstepping method, and reference point velocity control as a virtual control variable. Specifically, based on USV resultant velocity control, this paper proposes respective solutions for two common scenarios through velocity planning. In a derailment correction scenario, an adaptive reference velocity was designed according to the position and attitude of USV, which promoted its maneuverability remarkably. In a dynamic obstacle avoidance scenario, an appropriate velocity curve was searched by dynamic programming on ST graph and optimized by quadratic programming, which enabled USV to evade obstacles without changing the original path. Simulation results proved the convergence and reliability of the motion control strategies and path following algorithm. Furthermore, velocity planning was verified to perform effectively in both scenarios.