A distributed coordinated path planning algorithm for maritime autonomous surface ship

The anti-collision path planning is vital for establishing the decision support system for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS). Numerous methods have been developed to solve the problem of collision avoidance with static and dynamic obstacles in the past two decades. However, most of the studies are conducted with certain limitations, such as the assumption of constant velocity of target ships, the simplification of ship’ dynamic properties during manoeuvering, the insufficient consideration of coordination among different ships' actions, etc. In this article, a distributed coordinated path planning algorithm especially for multi-ship encounter is proposed. Combined with constraints of apparent action, time dimension and ship's dynamic properties , a Three-dimension Generalized Velocity Obstacle (TGVO) algorithm is adopted to generate practical and COLREGs compliant collision-free velocities for vessels. Compared to traditional collision avoidance parameter calculation approach, the impact of ship manoeuvrability on avoidance performance is further discussed and analyzed to improve the accuracy and universality of the optimization solutions. In addition, a distributed multistage decision model aiming at solving the situation including multiple give-way vessels is introduced based on the priority analysis. Finally, simulation experiments show that this proposed scheme can work properly in various maritime environments with high degree of coordination and consistency with navigation practice. • Three-dimension Generalized Velocity Obstacle (GNVO) algorithm is innovatively proposed. • The impact of ship manoeuvrability on avoidance performance is thoroughly accommodated to improve accuracy and universality. • The proposed scheme is highly consistent with navigation practice, and performs multi-ship coordinated solutions to collision avoidance at the same time.