The Empirical Application of Automotive 3D Radar Sensor for Target Detection for an Autonomous Surface Vehicle’s Navigation

Abstract

Avoiding collisions with other objects is one of the most basic safety tasks undertaken in the operation of floating vehicles. Addressing this challenge is essential, especially during unmanned vehicle navigation processes in autonomous missions. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the surface target detection possibilities in a water environment, which can be used for the future development of tracking and anti-collision systems for autonomous surface vehicles (ASV). The research focuses on identifying the detection ranges and the field of view for various surface targets. Typical objects that could be met in the water environment were analyzed, including a boat and floating objects. This study describes the challenges of implementing automotive radar sensors for anti-collision tasks in a water environment from the perspective of target detection with the application for small ASV performing tasks on the lake.