Automatic Ship Collision Avoidance Algorithm based on Probabilistic Velocity Obstacle with Consideration of COLREGs

This study presents an automatic collision avoidance algorithm for autonomous navigation of unmanned surface vessels. The performance of the collision avoidance algorithm is heavily dependent on the estimation quality of the course and speed of traffic ships because collision avoidance maneuvers should be determined based on the predicted motions of the traffic ships and their trajectory uncertainties. In this study, the collision avoidance algorithm is implemented based on the Probabilistic Velocity Obstacle (PVO) approach considering the maritime collision regulations (COLREGs). In order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm, an extensive set of simulations was conducted and the results are discussed.