A springs and masses model for determining the lowest risk path in a threat environment

Abstract

Finding the safest path through a threat environment is paramount for the military. This work investigates the use of a springs and masses model for battlefield applications. In particular, we examine the use of this model in scenarios when the locations of the threat environment are not necessarily known, that is, `pop-up' threats. The strengths and weaknesses of this approach are discussed including the potential for using this model to solve safe path problems in real-time, which would allow it to be used as a decision making tool for both field and onboard system applications. References The MathWorks. MATLAB central. http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/. The MathWorks. MATLAB documentation. http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/index.html?/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/math/f1-662913.html. T. W. Mclain and R. W. Beard. Trajectory planning for coordinated rendezvous of unmanned air vehicles. In Proceedings of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, pages 1247--1254, 2000. http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/306568.html. G. N. Mercer and H. S. Sidhu. Two continuous methods for determining a minimal risk path through a minefield. In W Read and A J Roberts, editors, Proceedings of the 13th Biennial Computational Techniques and Applications Conference, volume 48, pages C293--C306, July 2007. http://anziamj.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/56. R. Murphy, S. Uryasev, and M. Zabarankin. Trajectory optimization in a threat environment. Research report 9, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Florida, July 2003. http://www.ise.ufl.edu/uryasev/Trajectory_optimization.pdf. M. C. Novy. Air vehicle optimal trajectories for minimization of radar exposure. Master's thesis, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, USA, March 2001. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA390154. H. S. Sidhu, G. N. Mercer, M. J. Sexton, N. A. Ansari, and Z. Jovanoski. Optimal path trajectories in a threat environment. Journal of Battlefield Technology, 9(3):33--39, November 2006. http://www.argospress.com/jbt/. M. Zabarankin, S. Uryasev, and P. Pardalos. Optimal path risk algorithms. In R Murphey and P Pardalos, editors, Cooperative Control and Optimization, chapter 13, pages 273--298. Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2002. doi:10.1007/0-306-47536-7-13. R. W. Beard, T. W. McLain, M. Goodrich, and E. P. Anderson. Coordinated target assignment and intercept for unmanned air vehicles. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 18:911--922, 2002. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/70/25967/01159009.pdf. S. A. Bortoff. Path planning for {UAV}s. In Proceedings of the American Control Conference, number 6, pages 364--368, Sep 2000. doi:10.1109/ACC.2000.878915. M. Jun and R. D'Andrea. Path planning for unmanned aerial vehicles in uncertain and adversarial environments. In S Butenko, R Murphey, and P Paralos, editors, Cooperative Control: Models, Applications and Algorithms, chapter 6, pages 95--110. Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2003. http://www.seas.ucla.edu/coopcontrol/papers/02cn04.pdf. J. J. Leary. Search for a stealthy flight path through a hostile radar defense network. Master's thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA, March 1995. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA297669.