Fixed-Wing UAV Energy Efficient 3D Path Planning in Cluttered Environments
Giuseppe Aiello, Kimon P. Valavanis, Alessandro Rizzo
Abstract
Abstract 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.