In this paper, we describe the development process of autonomous navigation capabilities of a small cruise boat operating in a canal environment and present the results of a field experiment conducted in the Pohang Canal, South Korea. Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) was used for the online trajectory planning and tracking control of the cruise boat in a narrow passage in the canal. To consider the nonlinear characteristics of boat dynamics, system identification was performed using experimental data from various test maneuvers, such as acceleration-deceleration and zigzag trials. To efficiently represent the obstacle structures in the canal environment, we parameterized the canal walls as line segments with point cloud data, captured by an onboard LiDAR sensor, and considered them as constraints for obstacle avoidance. The proposed method was implemented in a single NMPC layer, and its real-world performance was verified through experimental runs in the Pohang Canal.

翻译：本文描述了在运河环境中运行的小型游船自主导航能力的开发过程，并展示了在韩国浦项运河进行的实地实验结果。采用非线性模型预测控制（NMPC）实现游船在运河狭窄通道中的在线轨迹规划与跟踪控制。为考虑船舶动力学非线性特性，利用加速-减速和锯齿形机动等测试工况的实验数据进行系统辨识。为有效表征运河环境中的障碍物结构，我们以船载LiDAR传感器采集的点云数据将运河壁参数化为线段，并将其作为避障约束条件。所提方法在单一NMPC层中实现，并通过浦项运河的实船实验验证了其实际性能。