UAV Path Planning Research Articles

Fixed-Wing UAV Energy Efficient 3D Path Planning in Cluttered Environments

UAV path planning in 3D cluttered and uncertain environments centers on finding an optimal / sub-optimal collision-free path, considering in parallel geometric, physical and temporal constraints, fox example, obstacles, infrastructure, physical or artificial landmarks, etc. This paper introduces a novel node-based algorithm, called Energy Efficient A* (EEA*), which is based on the A* search algorithm, but overcomes some of its key limitations. The EEA* deals with 3D environments, it is robust converging fast to the solution, it is energy efficient and it is real-time implementable and executable. In addition to the EEA*, a local path planner is also derived to cope with unknown dynamic threats within the working environment. The EEA* and the local path planner are first implemented and evaluated via simulated experiments using a fixed-wing UAV operating in mountain-like 3D environments, and in the presence of unknown dynamic obstacles. This is followed by evaluating a set up where three UAVs are commanded to follow their respective paths in a safe way. The energy efficiency of EEA* is also tested and compared with the conventional A* algorithm.

Multi-agent robotic system (MARS) for UAV-UGV path planning and automatic sensory data collection in cluttered environments

There has been growing interest in increasing the application of robotic and automation technologies for building indoor inspection. However, much previous research on indoor robotic applications was limited to a single type of unmanned aerial/ground vehicle (UAV/UGV), each of which has certain limitations and constraints. Besides, the robotic systems suffer from inefficient control within cluttered indoor environments containing many obstacles. This paper presents a multi-agent robotic system (MARS) for automatic UAV-UGV path planning and indoor navigation to automate sensory data collection. The proposed MARS consists of a new system architecture that defines the attributes and data requirements for UAV and UGV indoor path planning. To improve indoor navigation in cluttered environments, an enhanced shunting short-term memory model is established to optimize the pathfinding of UAV/UGV for data collection. Assessment of indoor navigation is conducted with a simulation-based approach and LiDAR SLAM. A mediating agent, which harnesses a control algorithm and information exchange mechanism, is proposed to interoperate UAV and UGV for automated data collection. The proposed new MARS is examined in experiments, in which a single UAV, dual UAVs, and combined UAV-UGV are tested in a research laboratory. The result indicates that the MARS can support automated path planning and indoor navigation for 2D image and 3D point cloud data collection.

IHSSAO: An Improved Hybrid Salp Swarm Algorithm and Aquila Optimizer for UAV Path Planning in Complex Terrain

In this paper, we propose a modified hybrid Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA) and Aquila Optimizer (AO) named IHSSAO for UAV path planning in complex terrain. The primary logic of the proposed IHSSAO is to enhance the performance of AO by introducing the leader mechanism of SSA, tent chaotic map, and pinhole imaging opposition-based learning strategy. Firstly, the tent chaotic map is utilized to substitute the randomly generated initial population in the original algorithm to increase the diversity of the initial individuals. Secondly, we integrate the leader mechanism of SSA into the position update formulation of the basic AO, which enables the search individuals to fully utilize the optimal solution information and enhances the global search capability of AO. Thirdly, we introduce the pinhole imaging opposition-based learning in the proposed IHSSAO to enhance the capability to escape from the local optimization. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed IHSSAO algorithm, we tested it against SSA, AO, and five other advanced meta-heuristic algorithms on 23 classical benchmark functions and 17 IEEE CEC2017 test functions. The experimental results indicate that the proposed IHSSAO is superior to the other seven algorithms in most cases. Eventually, we applied the IHSSAO, SSA, and AO to solve the UAV path planning problem. The experimental results verify that the IHSSAO is superior to the basic SSA and AO for solving the UAV path planning problem in complex terrain.

Improved Sparrow Algorithm Based on Game Predatory Mechanism and Suicide Mechanism.

In order to overcome the defect that sparrow search algorithm converges very fast but is easy to fall into the trap of local optimization, based on the original mechanism of sparrow algorithm, this paper proposes game predatory mechanism and suicide mechanism, which makes sparrow algorithm more in line with its biological characteristics and enhances the ability of the algorithm to get rid of the attraction of local optimization while retaining the advantages of fast convergence speed. By initializing the population with the good point set strategy, the quality of the initial population is guaranteed and the diversity of the population is enhanced. In view of the current situation that the diversity index evaluation does not consider the invalid search caused by individuals beyond the boundary in the search process, an index to measure the invalid search beyond the boundary in the search process is proposed, and the measurement of diversity index is further improved to make it more accurate. The improved algorithm is tested on six basic functions and CEC2017 test function to verify its effectiveness. Finally, the improved algorithm is applied to the three-dimensional path planning of UAV with threat area. The results show that the improved algorithm has stronger optimization performance, has strong competitiveness compared with other algorithms, and can quickly plan the effective and stable path of UAV, which improves an effective method for the application in this field and other fields.

Automated Path Planning for unmanned aerial vehicle in Urban Dynamic Area

AbstractThis paper addresses the path planning and autonomous obstacle avoidance problem of UAVs in urban dynamic area. A flight path planning strategy for UAVs in complex urban environments is proposed.First, the A* algorithm is used to construct a desired global path in a 3D static environment, which is used as the static reference path for dynamic obstacle avoidance below.The environmental and the key points of algorithm are also elaborated. In this paper, the dynamic obstacles are divided into three categories, then, in order to avoid the collision between dynamic obstacles and static optimal paths, two strategies to achieve local online path adjustment are proposed. Finally, the seven order minimum snap trajectories generation based on piecewise polynomials is utilized to smooth the flight path.We can obtain a smooth trajectory based on UAV dynamics and safety. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed UAV path planning strategy in the dynamic and complex urban area.

Receding Horizon Control with Extended Solution for UAV Path Planning

The receding horizon control (RHC) greatly reduces the planning time and achieves great success in UAV online path planning because of rolling window optimization. However, due to its small range of path search in the time window, UAVs cannot cope with environments with uncertain obstacles and multiple flight constraints. Therefore, the receding horizon control with extended solution (RHC-eS) method is proposed for UAV path planning based on the traditional RHC. This method first designs the path expansion mechanism, which not only expands the search range of feasible solutions but also ensures the real-time performance by the two-way search strategy. Secondly, in order to increase the richness of solutions, the crossover and directional variation strategy of Genetic Algorithm (GA) are integrated. Finally, the Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) method is used to optimize the objective function. The simulation results of UAV path planning in simple and complex environments certify that the proposed method can obtain shorter, safer, and smoother paths compared with the existing methods.

Fast Multi-UAV Path Planning for Optimal Area Coverage in Aerial Sensing Applications.

This paper deals with the problems and the solutions of fast coverage path planning (CPP) for multiple UAVs. Through this research, the problem is solved and analyzed with both a software framework and algorithm. The implemented algorithm generates a back-and-forth path based on the onboard sensor footprint. In addition, three methods are proposed for the individual path assignment: simple bin packing trajectory planner (SIMPLE-BINPAT); bin packing trajectory planner (BINPAT); and Powell optimized bin packing trajectory planner (POWELL-BINPAT). The three methods use heuristic algorithms, linear sum assignment, and minimization techniques to optimize the planning task. Furthermore, this approach is implemented with applicable software to be easily used by first responders such as police and firefighters. In addition, simulation and real-world experiments were performed using UAVs with RGB and thermal cameras. The results show that POWELL-BINPAT generates optimal UAV paths to complete the entire mission in minimum time. Furthermore, the computation time for the trajectory generation task decreases compared to other techniques in the literature. This research is part of a real project funded by the H2020 FASTER Project, with grant ID: 833507.

UAV Path Planning Based on Multicritic-Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient

Deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm is a reinforcement learning method, which has been widely used in UAV path planning. However, the critic network of DDPG is frequently updated in the training process. It leads to an inevitable overestimation problem and increases the training computational complexity. Therefore, this paper presents a multicritic-delayed DDPG method for solving the UAV path planning. It uses multicritic networks and delayed learning methods to reduce the overestimation problem of DDPG and adds noise to improve the robustness in the real environment. Moreover, a UAV mission platform is built to train and evaluate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has a higher convergence speed, a better convergence effect, and stability. It indicates that UAV can learn more knowledge from the complex environment.

A new hybrid algorithm based on golden eagle optimizer and grey wolf optimizer for 3D path planning of multiple UAVs in power inspection

A new hybrid algorithm based on golden eagle optimizer and grey wolf optimizer for 3D path planning of multiple UAVs in power inspection

An Improved Genetic Algorithm for Rapid UAV Path Planning

UAV technologies have advanced rapidly and are widely used in military and civilian fields. For instance, the UAV swarms have been widely applied to oil and gas exploration, geometric mapping, and cargo transport. However, the UAV swarm system requires a more accurate plan before performing any mission. Path planning is one of the essential parts of mission planning because of the higher requirement of robustness and real-time communication. UAV path planning could generate the optimal path starting from the current position to the target in an environment with an obstacle. While the standard genetic algorithm has lacked efficiency in the iteration process and poor stability, a new genetic operator is proposed for the genetic algorithm and applied to the path planning simulation of UAV swarms in this study. A three-dimensional mapping and fitness function are already constructed for the simulation. The simulation result shows the algorithm with improved selection and mutation operator can efficiently and stably converge to the optimal solution.

An IPSO-SA algorithm based on feedback mechanism for smooth path planning of UAV

The traditional PSO algorithm has been widely used in the path planning of unmanned equipment, but its algorithm is faced with the problem of premature convergence, which is easy to fall into the local optimal solution. When the initial position is not suitable, it can’t even plan the path in complex environment. At the same time, its line trajectory does not meet the requirements of the path curvature of realistic unmanned equipment. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes a new path planning strategy for unmanned equipment, and designs a new path planning algorithm for unmanned aircraft by combining the improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm with simulated annealing algorithm (SA). At the same time, it solves the two problems that PSO algorithm is easy to fall into local optimal solution and abandoning all possible feasible solution regions in the early stage because of an illegal path. The path planned by IPSO-SA algorithm is processed by cubic spline interpolation to solve the curvature problem of its motion path. In addition, in view of the problem that the initial point is not suitable in complex environment, this algorithm designs a feedback mechanism to correct the initial point in time. The effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by theoretical derivation and simulation experiments, that is, the algorithm only needs a small number of point sequences to plan the path of UAV in simple and complex environment, and has less search amount and space-time overhead.

MPPTM: A Bio-Inspired Approach for Online Path Planning and High-Accuracy Tracking of UAVs.

The path planning and tracking problem of the multi-robot system (MRS) has always been a research hotspot and applied in various fields. In this article, a novel multi-robot path planning and tracking model (MPPTM) is proposed, which can carry out online path planning and tracking problem for multiple mobile robots. It considers many issues during this process, such as collision avoidance, and robot failure. The proposed approach consists of three parts: a neural dynamic path planner, a hyperbolic tangent path optimizer, and an error-driven path tracker. Assisted by Ultra-wideband positioning system, the proposed MPPTM is a low-cost solution for online path planning and high-accurate tracking of MRS in practical environments. In the proposed MPPTM, the proposed path planner has good time performance, and the proposed path optimizer improves tracking accuracy. The effectiveness, feasibility, and better performance of the proposed model are demonstrated by real experiments and comparative simulations.

Many-objective optimization based path planning of multiple UAVs in oilfield inspection

Many-objective optimization based path planning of multiple UAVs in oilfield inspection

Improved GWO Algorithm for UAV Path Planning on Crop Pest Monitoring

Improved GWO Algorithm for UAV Path Planning on Crop Pest Monitoring

A Modified Grey Wolf Optimizer for Uav Path Planning

A Modified Grey Wolf Optimizer for Uav Path Planning

UAV path planning based on an elite-guided orthogonal diagonalised krill herd algorithm

UAV path planning based on an elite-guided orthogonal diagonalised krill herd algorithm

Three-dimensional Path Planning of UAV Based on Improved Whale Optimization Algorithm

Three-dimensional Path Planning of UAV Based on Improved Whale Optimization Algorithm

Path Planning and Swarm Control of Multiple UAVs using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (PSO)

Path Planning and Swarm Control of Multiple UAVs using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (PSO)

UAV Path Planning of Combining Ant Colony and Beetle Antennae Algorithm Using Intelligent Wireless Communication

In order to settle the problem of UAV path planning under mountain, an algorithm which based on the combination of ant colony algorithm and beetle antennae algorithm is proposed. Three dimensional environment model is established and objective function is constructed. It used ant colony algorithm to initialize the search path and the particle coordinates of all the next steps are updated by the beetle antennae algorithm. The improved algorithm adopted a new step update rule to speed up the convergence of the algorithm and used third-order B-spline interpolation method to smooth the path. Simulation results show that improved fusion algorithm has faster convergence speed and high stability by comparing with other algorithms under the same conditions, which verifies its effectiveness.

Application study of UAV path planning based on the balanced search factor artificial bee colony algorithm

In this paper, aiming at the shortcomings of slow convergence speed and weak local search ability of traditional artificial bee colony algorithm in path planning, an artificial bee colony algorithm based on balanced search factor is proposed for UAV path planning. Using a search strategy based on balanced search factor, the depth search is carried out while maintaining a certain population diversity. The global search ability and local development ability are balanced, the average accuracy of path planning is improved, the robustness of path planning is enhanced, and the ability to obtain better path solutions is improved.