Minefield path planning: architecture and algorithms obeying kinematic constraints

Abstract

We have been developing path planning techniques to look for paths that balance the utility and risk associated with different routes through a minefield. Such methods will allow a battlegroup commander to evaluate alternative route options while searching for low risk paths. Extending on previous years' efforts, we have implemented a generalized path planning framework to allow rapid evaluation and integration of new path planning algorithms. We have also implemented a version of Rapidly-Explored Random Trees (RRTs) for mine path planning which integrates path risk, path time, and dynamic and kinematic concerns. Several variants of the RRT algorithm and our existing path planning algorithms were quantitatively evaluated using the generalized path planning framework and an algorithm-dynamic evaluation graphical user interface.