A study on application of sensor fusion to collision avoidance system for ships

Collision avoidance system for ships is an autonomous system that examines risk of collision between ships based on the data from navigational equipment and performs appropriate avoidance control to prevent the collision. Development of the system is relatively unexplored area compared to UGV and UAV. In this paper, based on analysis of techniques to facilitate autonomy of the UGV and UAV, application of sensor fusion to improve reliability of the collision avoidance system is presented. The result was verified via basic collision scenario based on practical simulation environment which is equivalent to the real ship, and shows that collision avoidance information and avoidance paths by the system are complied with international regulations for preventing collisions at sea (COLREGs).