Field demonstration of advanced autonomous navigation technique for a fully unmanned surface vehicle in complex coastal traffic areas

Abstract This study introduces an advanced autonomous navigation algorithm for unmanned surface vehicle (USV) operations in complex coastal traffic areas. To facilitate the undertaking of tests for innovative technologies, the Korean government has designated regulation‐free special zones, thereby enabling field tests for USV demonstrations without an onboard safety person on real manned‐ship navigation routes. To enable real‐world USV operation without onboard safety person, an existing autonomous navigation algorithm is extended to achieve sufficiently reliable and robust USV operation. Accordingly, berthing and unberthing algorithms are newly developed for unmanned operation, and enhanced situational awareness algorithms are applied to detect all types of obstacles, including small‐sized floating objects spread over a wide range, such as a fish farm. In particular, the Korean intelligent maritime transportation service, called e‐Navigation, is incorporated into the autonomous navigation algorithms to overcome the limitations of vehicle autonomy based on onboard sensors. To demonstrate the capability of fully unmanned operation in real marine traffic scenarios, long‐distance navigation (54 km on a single voyage) was conducted by running several missions, including navigation in complex fish farm areas, maritime surveys, collision avoidance, navigation on real traffic routes, and emergency response. The extended navigation algorithms and results of the field tests are presented and discussed in this paper.