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arXiv · 2504.18253

Depth-Constrained ASV Navigation with Deep RL and Limited Sensing

Amirhossein Zhalehmehrabi·Daniele Meli·Francesco Dal Santo·Francesco Trotti·Alessandro Farinelli
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Abstract

Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) play a crucial role in maritime operations, yet their navigation in shallow-water environments remains challenging due to dynamic disturbances and depth constraints. Traditional navigation strategies struggle with limited sensor information, making safe and efficient operation difficult. In this paper, we propose a reinforcement learning (RL) framework for ASV navigation under depth constraints, where the vehicle must reach a target while avoiding unsafe areas with only a single depth measurement per timestep from a downward-facing Single Beam Echosounder (SBES). To enhance environmental awareness, we integrate Gaussian Process (GP) regression into the RL framework, enabling the agent to progressively estimate a bathymetric depth map from sparse sonar readings. This approach improves decision-making by providing a richer representation of the environment. Furthermore, we demonstrate effective sim-to-real transfer, ensuring that trained policies generalize well to real-world aquatic conditions. Experimental results validate our method's capability to improve ASV navigation performance while maintaining safety in challenging shallow-water environments.

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Amirhossein Zhalehmehrabi, Daniele Meli, Francesco Dal Santo, Francesco Trotti, Alessandro Farinelli. 2025-04-25. Depth-Constrained ASV Navigation with Deep RL and Limited Sensing. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.18253

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