UUV path planning algorithm based on virtual obstacle

Path planning and obstacle avoidance is an important component of the UUV autonomous navigation and control system. The UUV is work usually in the unknown environment and the optimal or sub-optimal collision-free path is found according to a certain evaluation criteria. The artificial potential field algorithm is one of the path planning algorithms used widely. However, in this algorithm, the UUV is easy to fall into the trap local minimum area and even sometimes cannot reach the target point. In this paper, the parameter was improved to solve the UUV unreachable problem and the virtual obstacle was added to overcome the local minimum problem. The results of simulation demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed algorithm effectively.