Maritime Buoyage Inspection System Based on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Active Disturbance Rejection Control

Abstract

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is inexpensive and offers a fast response speed and robust flexibility; thus, it is a promising tool in the maritime buoyage inspection scenario, which involves monitoring and accessing a lateral mark system far away from the coast. However, two main problems can occur during inspection. The first is extreme weather conditions, resulting in a deviation between the inspection route and the design route. The second is that the buoyage beacons are visited only once. Therefore, this article proposes a buoyage inspection system consisting of a single UAV and random coastal buoys. The UAV automatically takes off from the depot, performs a self-check on the buoy beacons, and then returns to the depot. A cascade active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) is designed to adjust the real-time trajectory of the UAV system. A feasible trajectory planning method is also designed based on the continuous Hopfield neural network (CHNN) and genetic algorithm (GA) to minimize the inspection distance. Extensive simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Evaluation of Paris MoU Maritime Inspections Using a STATIS Approach

“…The result was that ships could be correctly detected with higher precision (over 90%) and the implementation of this system in maritime traffic terminals could improve their waters' safety. Baoying Li et al [30] also proposed an inspection system to improve safety which used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and draws on a feasible trajectory planning method, which in turn is based on the continuous Hopfield neural network (CHNN) and genetic algorithm (GA) to minimise the inspection distance.…”

Design and Testing of an Autonomous Navigation Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Buoy Inspection

“…To address the shortcomings of manual buoy inspections, Li [4] has developed a novel maritime buoy detection system leveraging the advantages of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including low cost, rapid response, and high flexibility, for monitoring coastal buoys. Additionally, a feasible path planning approach based on Convolutional Hyper Neural Networks (CHNNs) and genetic algorithms has been devised to obtain the shortest-distance trajectory for accessing each buoy once.…”

“…Based on the foregoing analysis, this paper presents the design of an unmanned surface vehicle tailored for routine buoy inspection tasks, with both simulation and field trials conducted. Reference [4] mentioned that the UAV reaches the specified buoy position for inspection, but subsequent inspection procedures remain unexplored. This study offers a more comprehensive scheme for buoy inspection.…”