A Novel Unmanned Surface Vehicle with 2D-3D Fused Perception and Obstacle Avoidance Module

Zhe Chen, Tao Huang, Zhenfeng Xue, Zongzhi Zhu, Jinhong Xu, Yong Liu

Abstract: Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are important intelligent equipment that can accomplish various tasks on open area marine. During operation, environmental perception and obstacle avoidance is of vital significance to its autonomy. In this paper, we propose a novel USV equipped with fused perception and obstacle avoidance module that contains robust perception, localization and effective obstacle avoidance strategy. The new module is named Three-Dimensional Perception Module (PMTD), which utilizes camera and LiDAR to integrate multi-dimensional environmental information. It is able to detect, identify and track target objects in the process of autonomous travel. The localization precision achieves a centimeter-level with GPS and IMU devices. Meanwhile, the obstacle avoidance strategy allows the USV to efficiently keep away from static and dynamic floating objects in water areas. Through real-world experiments, we show that with the help of the proposed module, the USV can complete stable and autonomous operation and obstacles avoidance path planning even without any manual intervention. This indicates the strong ability of the module in autonomous driving for USVs.