Obstacles modeling method in cluttered environments using satellite images and its application to path planning for USV

Abstract The obstacles modeling is a fundamental and significant issue for path planning and automatic navigation of Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV). In this study, we propose a novel obstacles modeling method based on high resolution satellite images. It involves two main steps: extraction of obstacle features and construction of convex hulls. To extract the obstacle features, a series of operations such as sea-land segmentation, obstacles details enhancement, and morphological transformations are applied. Furthermore, an efficient algorithm is proposed to mask the obstacles into convex hulls, which mainly includes the cluster analysis of obstacles area and the determination rules of edge points. Experimental results demonstrate that the models achieved by the proposed method and the manual have high similarity. As an application, the model is used to find the optimal path for USV. The study shows that the obstacles modeling method is feasible, and it can be applied to USV path planning.