Various methods of trajectory determination are used for finding solutions to collision situations involving ships. This applies to avoiding collisions with other ships or stationary objects. In addition to the methods generally used, new or modified versions of methods derived from other modes of transport are proposed. One of the algorithms for route determination serving to avoid obstructions is the method of artificial potential fields, used for determining routes of mobile robots. The method is used in maritime transport, for instance for detecting anomalies in ship movement. The article presents the method of potential fields used for solving the problem of route selection avoiding navigational dangers and obstacles. This article presents an algorithm of route determination based on the said method, its implementation in the MATLAB program and examples of application for the ship’s safe trajectory determination in some navigational situations.

This paper proposes a modified artificial potential fields (APF) method for collision avoidance at sea. The concept of artificial potentials used herein is derived from fields generated by electric charges. Attractive and repulsive forces are determined, accounting for the positions of an own vessel and a target vessel. The own vessel and its goal are considered as opposite charges. There is an attractive force between them, while the own vessel and target vessels or obstacles are considered as charges with a repulsive force between them. The values of these forces depend on the coefficients of attraction and repulsion. To solve a particular collision situation, the modified method of artificial potential fields is used. Due to the specific nature of the vessels’ movement, additional factors affecting the values of the attraction and repulsive forces are considered, as opposed to solutions used for robots. The main purpose of this article is to present the method for determining the coefficients of the APF method. This method will be used to avoid collisions at sea. From an analysis of factors influencing the execution of the vessel maneuver in a collision situation, a modified method for determining the attraction and repulsion coefficients is proposed. A case study of collision avoidance in a vessel encounter situation is also conducted.