An unmanned aerial vehicle autonomous flight trajectory planning method and algorithm for the early detection of the ignition source during fire monitoring

Abstract

ABSTRACT Timely identification of a fire’s origin in its initial stages is essential for minimizing human as well as material losses. Hence, formulating a methodology and algorithm for autonomously planning the flight path of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during fire monitoring to identify ignition sources early is a pressing objective. The proposed ignition detection method comprises three flight plans (FPs); Flight Plan A (FPA) involves surveying the monitored area with tacks, and assessing harmful substance concentrations in each pixel. Upon identifying a pixel surpassing the threshold concentration, Flight Plan B (FPB) directs the UAV control for targeted navigation, employing local planning based on calculating local differential operators within a nine-element mask. FPB enables the UAV to directly reach and pinpoint the fire source coordinates. Flight Plan C (FPC) outlines the UAV’s return journey to the departure point from any pixel within the monitoring zone. A multi-criteria algorithm for UAV flight path control has been devised, facilitating the determination of local target pixels and subsequent Local Flight Plan (LFP) construction. The guiding principle for constructing an LFP is the ‘at least three pixels on the tack’ rule, yielding a nine-element matrix with known harmful substance concentrations in the target pixel. It enables the identification of pixels within the LFP where obtaining this matrix is unattainable. Mathematical modelling of the UAV flight control algorithm, as per the proposed methodology, was executed using MATLAB® R2019b, demonstrating control stability and accelerated attainment of ignition source pixel coordinates. The achieved speed surpassed the set goal by 1.5 to 2 times, contingent on the ignition source’s location concerning the monitored territory’s flyby direction.