Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea (대한조선학회논문집)

The Society of Naval Architects of Korea (대한조선학회)
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A Formation Control of Swarm Unmanned Surface Vehicles Using Potential Field Considering Relative Velocity

상대속도를 고려한 포텐셜 필드 기반 군집 무인수상선의 대형 제어

  • Seungdae Baek (Digital Technology Research Institute, HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering) ;
  • Minseung Kim (Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Systems Engineering, National Korea Maritime and Ocean University) ;
  • Joohyun Woo (Division of Naval Architecture and Ocean Systems Engineering, National Korea Maritime and Ocean University)
  • 백승대 (HD한국조선해양 디지털플랫폼연구실) ;
  • 김민승 (국립한국해양대학교 조선해양시스템공학과) ;
  • 우주현 (국립한국해양대학교 조선해양시스템공학부)
  • Received : 2024.05.08
  • Accepted : 2024.05.13
  • Published : 2024.06.20
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Abstract

With the advancement of autonomous navigation technology in maritime domain, there is an active research on swarming Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) that can fulfill missions with low cost and high efficiency. In this study, we propose a formation control algorithm that maintains a certain shape when multiple unmanned surface vehicles operate in a swarm. In the case of swarming, individual USVs need to be able to accurately follow the target state and avoid collisions with obstacles or other vessels in the swarm. In order to generate guidance commands for swarm formation control, the potential field method has been a major focus of swarm control research, but the method using the potential field only uses the position information of obstacles or other ships, so it cannot effectively respond to moving targets and obstacles. In situations such as the formation change of a swarm of ships, the formation control is performed in a dense environment, so the position and velocity information of the target and nearby obstacles must be considered to effectively change the formation. In order to overcome these limitations, this paper applies a method that considers relative velocity to the potential field-based guidance law to improve target following and collision avoidance performance. Considering the relative velocity of the moving target, the potential field for nearby obstacles is newly defined by utilizing the concept of Velocity Obstacle (VO), and the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method is verified through swarm control simulation, and swarm control experiments using a small scaled unmanned surface vehicle platform.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

이 논문은 i) 2020학년도 한국해양대학교 신진교수 정착연구 지원사업 연구비와, ii) 2024년도 정부(산업통상자원부)의 재원으로 한국산업기술 진흥원의 지원(P0017006, 2024년, 산업혁신인재성장지원사업)을 받아 수행된 연구임

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