Multi-Objective Cooperated Path Planning of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Based on Revisit Time

Abstract

This paper investigates multi-objective optimization of coordinated patrolling flight of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles in the vicinity of terrain, while respecting their performance parameters. A new efficient modified A-star (A*) algorithm with a novel defined criterion known as individual revisit time cell value is introduced and extended to the whole area of the three-dimensional mountainous environment. As a contribution to solving tradeoffs in the optimization problem, revisit time is conjugated with other contrary costs effective in flight planning through Pareto analysis. By introducing the revisit time and applying a specific setup to mitigate computational complexity, the proposed algorithm efficiently revisits the desired zones, which are more important to be revisited during the patrolling mission. The results of the introduced modified A* algorithm are compared in various scenarios with two different algorithms: a complete and optimal algorithm known as Dijkstra, and an evolutionary algorithm known as the genetic algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm generates faster and more efficient trajectories in complex multi-agent scenarios due to the introduced cell selection method and dynamic-based simplifications applied in this research.