Virtual Reality Fusion Testing-Based Autonomous Collision Avoidance of Ships in Open Water: Methods and Practices

With the rapid development of autonomous collision avoidance algorithms on ships, the technical demand for the testing and verification of autonomous collision avoidance algorithms is increasing; however, the current testing of autonomous collision avoidance algorithms is mainly based on the virtual simulation of the computer. To realize the testing and verification of the autonomous collision avoidance algorithm in the real ship scene, a method of virtual reality fusion testing in open water is proposed and real ship testing is carried out. Firstly, an autonomous ship collision avoidance test and evaluation system is established to research the test method of ship encounters in open water. Starting from the convention on the international regulations for preventing collisions at sea (COLREG), the main scenario elements of ship collision avoidance are analyzed. Based on the parametric modeling method of ship collision avoidance scenarios, a standard test scenario library for ship collision avoidance in open waters is established. Then, based on the demand for a ship collision avoidance function test, the evaluation index system of ship collision avoidance is constructed. Subsequently, for the uncertainty of the initial state of the real ship test at sea, the virtual–real space mapping method to realize the correspondence of the standard scenario in the real world is proposed. A standardized testing process to improve testing efficiency is established. Finally, the method of conducting virtual simulation and virtual reality fusion tests for various scenarios are verified, respectively. The test results show that the test method can effectively support the testing of autonomous collision avoidance algorithms for ships in open waters and provide a practical basis for improving the pertinence and practicability of ship collision avoidance testing.