Abstract
In large-scale natural disasters and military supplies, multiple parafoils are more capable of performing actual tasks. The cooperative paths planning for multiple parafoils with different initial positions and headings is an important step in multiple parafoils airdrop, which has to satisfy multiple objectives, namely, parafoils can’t collide with each other, parafoils should rendezvous at same target area, most of parafoils need to keep alignment against wind, and planned paths should be in the range of maneuver performance constraints to ensure that every parafoil’s path is fl yable. Due to more factors need to be considered, it is more diffi cult to plan paths for multiple parafoils than single parafoil. In this paper an improved genetic algorithm is used to solve the multi-objective cooperative paths planning problem of multiple parafoils system. Parafoils’paths are encoded by real matrix, and the cooperative relationship between parafoils is realized by paths fi tness function. The random single point crossover and Gaussian mutation are introduced to accelerate algorithm convergence rate. Finally, a simulation example is given, simulation results show that proposed method can plan feasible paths for all parafoils, meanwhile, it satisfies the requirements of anti-collision, rendezvous to target point, and keep alignment against the wind.
Highlights
Parafoil is a pneumatic deceleration device with bilayer structure made of flexible textile material, its speed and heading can be controlled by pulling down the steering line at the trailing edge
Paths planning of parafoils are the key part of the parafoil’s autonomous homing
The traditional path planning mainly focuses on single parafoil, the main optimization objective is to minimize the landing error, and does not need to take the cooperative of multiple parafoils into consideration
Summary
Parafoil is a pneumatic deceleration device with bilayer structure made of flexible textile material, its speed and heading can be controlled by pulling down the steering line at the trailing edge. When pulling down the steering rope at one trailing edge, the unilateral resistance of the parafoil will increase, which produces yawing moment and changes parafoil’s heading, the turn flight can be achieved. When pulling down the steering rope at both trailing edges, which changes the overall resistance of the parafoil system and the parafoil’s velocity, the gliding flight can be achieved. Compared with the traditional round parachute, parafoil has a higher lift-drag ratio, more excellent gliding performance, better stability and maneuverability, and can be packaged like a traditional round parachute.
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