Chinese Journal of Ship Research, Volume. 19, Issue 1, 191(2024)

A novel approach to large-scale autonomous formation of ships without specifying ship positions

Ming DING1, Lei WANG1,2, Ying DING3, and Yiting WANG1
Author Affiliations
  • 1State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 2Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Ship and Deep-Sea Exploration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 3School of Electrical Engineering, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China
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    Objective

    This paper puts forward the “virtual wall method” as a novel formation approach intended to address such problems as the high communication volume, slow formation speed and inconvenient expansion of large-scale ship formation.

    Method

    The proposed method uses local communication, sets virtual force according to the rules of nature to drive the ships to the target positions, and adjusts the formation to completion through the virtual wall.

    Results

    The results show that the ship formations can be completed quickly according to the proximity principle using the proposed algorithm, and the communication volume is low without changing with the formation size. The effectiveness of this algorithm is verified by static, dynamic, rotation, scaling and obstacle avoidance simulations of ship formations.

    Conclusion

    The virtual wall method features low communication volume, fast formation speed and convenient expansion, giving it significant advantages in the large-scale formation of ships.

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    Ming DING, Lei WANG, Ying DING, Yiting WANG. A novel approach to large-scale autonomous formation of ships without specifying ship positions[J]. Chinese Journal of Ship Research, 2024, 19(1): 191

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    Paper Information

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    Received: May. 24, 2023

    Accepted: --

    Published Online: Mar. 18, 2025

    The Author Email:

    DOI:10.19693/j.issn.1673-3185.03373

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