Simulation Study on Automatic Piloting of Ships in Typical Inland Waterways

This article is based on typical inland waterway channels in China and conducts autonomous navigation simulation experiments of the vessel in four types of ship encounter situations—overtaking, head-on meeting, crossing, and intersecting—on the OpenCPN software platform. The experiments have reached the following conclusions: Firstly, during the course-keeping phase, the course control method can make the vessel travel along the planned route normally and keep the ship's position within a small range near the planned route, which is in line with the practice of inland waterway vessel navigation; Secondly, during the collision avoidance phase, the collision avoidance decision method can provide reasonable and effective avoidance action plans for the vessel according to different situations and the "Inland Navigation Collision Regulations", ensuring that the target vessel passes outside the vessel's domain of the vessel, while also ensuring that the vessel's domain does not exceed the channel boundaries; Thirdly, in the resumption of navigation phase, the course control method can make the vessel return to the planned route to continue navigation after the collision avoidance task is completed, maintaining the vessel's adherence to the planned route.