Efficient Multi-UAV Path Planning for Collaborative Area Search Operations

Abstract

Efficient UAV path-planning algorithms significantly improve inspection efficiency and reduce costs. However, due to the limitation of battery capacity, the endurance of existing UAVs is limited, making it difficult for them to directly undertake information collection, cruising, and inspection tasks over large work areas. This paper considers the problem of path allocation for multiple UAVs to minimize work time and reports research on multi-UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) multi-task long-duration operation path planning. We propose a multi-UAV collaborative search algorithm based on the greedy algorithm (MUCS-GD) and a multi-UAV collaborative search algorithm based on the binary search algorithm (MUCS-BSAE), and later apply two UAV collaborative search algorithms to five UAV flight paths: (1) a snake curve path, (2) a “square wave signal” curve path, (3) a Peano curve path, (4) a Hilbert curve path, and (5) a Moore curve path, and compare the simulation results. We found that the performance of MUCS-BSAE was better than that of MUCS-GD in all of the above flight paths. In addition, the path with the “square wave signal” curve was the near-optimal path among all the flight paths. Finally, we improved the MUCS-BSAE applied on the “square wave signal” curve path and obtained an improved collaborative search algorithm for multiple UAVs based on the binary search algorithm (IMUCS-BSAE), which further reduced the working time of the UAV.