Path Planning of Multiple UAV’s in an Environment of Restricted Regions

Abstract

This paper describes a novel idea of path planning for multiple UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). The path planning ensures safe and simultaneous arrival of the UAVs to the target while meeting curvature and safety constraints. Pythagorean Hodograph (PH) curve is used for path planning. The PH curve provides continuous curvature of the paths. The offset curves of the PH paths define safety margins around and along each flight path. The simultaneous arrival is satisfied by generation of paths of equal lengths. This paper highlights the mathematical property — changing path-shape and path-length by manipulating the curvature and utilises this to achieve the following constraints: (i) Generation of paths of equal length, (ii) Achieving maximum bound on curvature, and, (iii) Meeting the safety constraints by offset paths.