Dynamic Path Planning for Underwater Vehicles Based on Modified Artificial Potential Field Method

Because it requires less change frequency of heading angle, path planning is a special and crucial issue to autonomous underwater vehicles in contrast to robot in land. The solution described in this paper firstly employs global path planning based on geometric method, then carries out local path planning based on one new artificial field potential function, which uses sector as the parameter. In order to ensure real-time, the information of sonar is combined to the static global map. The performance of simulation shows that the algorithm can avoid inherent limitations of artificial potential field method before the problem happening, the frequency of heading angle change is fewer, new detected obstacles can be real-time avoided.