Low-cost plug-and-play optical sensing technology for USVs' collision avoidance

In the field of marine robotics it is particularly important to endow the robot with a safe and highly reliable Navigation Guidance and Control (NGC) system which enables the Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) to safely navigate even in presence of human activities such as commercial and recreational traffic, swimmers, rowers, etc...A key aspect to achieve a safe autonomous navigation is the ability of the robot to recognize well in advance the presence of an unexpected, potentially moving, obstacle. This function represents the base brick for the development of a collision avoidance systems smart enough to reactively detect unexpected obstacles and perform the necessary avoidance maneuvers to prevent collisions. The present article describes the design of an a innovative obstacle detection sensor, combining both passive and active optical devices and based on a new concept of optronic system. It is specifically conceived for collision avoidance tasks in marine environments and it is designed to be easily mounted on small-medium sized USVs.