Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)or drones introduced for military applications are gaining popularity in several other fields as well such as security and surveillance,due to their ability to perform repetitive and tedi...Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)or drones introduced for military applications are gaining popularity in several other fields as well such as security and surveillance,due to their ability to perform repetitive and tedious tasks in hazardous environments.Their increased demand created the requirement for enabling the UAVs to traverse independently through the Three Dimensional(3D)flight environment consisting of various obstacles which have been efficiently addressed by metaheuristics in past literature.However,not a single optimization algorithms can solve all kind of optimization problem effectively.Therefore,there is dire need to integrate metaheuristic for general acceptability.To address this issue,in this paper,a novel reinforcement learning controlled Grey Wolf Optimisation-Archimedes Optimisation Algorithm(QGA)has been exhaustively introduced and exhaustively validated firstly on 22 benchmark functions and then,utilized to obtain the optimum flyable path without collision for UAVs in three dimensional environment.The performance of the developed QGA has been compared against the various metaheuristics.The simulation experimental results reveal that the QGA algorithm acquire a feasible and effective flyable path more efficiently in complicated environment.展开更多
This paper presents a path planning approach for rotary unmanned aerial vehicles(R-UAVs)in a known static rough terrain environment.This approach aims to find collision-free and feasible paths with minimum altitude,le...This paper presents a path planning approach for rotary unmanned aerial vehicles(R-UAVs)in a known static rough terrain environment.This approach aims to find collision-free and feasible paths with minimum altitude,length and angle variable rate.First,a three-dimensional(3D)modeling method is proposed to reduce the computation burden of the dynamic models of R-UAVs.Considering the length,height and tuning angle of a path,the path planning of R-UAVs is described as a tri-objective optimization problem.Then,an improved multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed.To render the algorithm more effective in dealing with this problem,a vibration function is introduced into the collided solutions to improve the algorithm efficiency.Meanwhile,the selection of the global best position is taken into account by the reference point method.Finally,the experimental environment is built with the help of the Google map and the 3D terrain generator World Machine.Experimental results under two different rough terrains from Guilin and Lanzhou of China demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed algorithm in finding Pareto optimal paths.展开更多
The optimal path planning for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) in multi-target surveillance tasks(MTST) in the presence of wind is concerned.To take into account the minimal turning radius of UAVs,the Dubins ...The optimal path planning for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) in multi-target surveillance tasks(MTST) in the presence of wind is concerned.To take into account the minimal turning radius of UAVs,the Dubins model is used to approximate the dynamics of UAVs.Based on the assumption,the path planning problem of UAVs in MTST can be formulated as a Dubins traveling salesman problem(DTSP).By considering its prohibitively high computational cost,the Dubins paths under terminal heading relaxation are introduced,which leads to significant reduction of the optimization scale and difficulty of the whole problem.Meanwhile,in view of the impact of wind on UAVs' paths,the notion of virtual target is proposed.The application of the idea successfully converts the Dubins path planning problem from an initial configuration to a target in wind into a problem of finding the minimal root of a transcendental equation.Then,the Dubins tour is derived by using differential evolution(DE) algorithm which employs random-key encoding technique to optimize the visiting sequence of waypoints.Finally,the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated through computational experiments.Numerical results exhibit that the proposed algorithm can produce high quality solutions to the problem.展开更多
This research focuses on trajectory generation algorithms that take into account the stealthiness of autonomous UAVs;generating stealthy paths through a region laden with enemy radars. The algorithm is employed to est...This research focuses on trajectory generation algorithms that take into account the stealthiness of autonomous UAVs;generating stealthy paths through a region laden with enemy radars. The algorithm is employed to estimate the risk cost of the navigational space and generate an optimized path based on the user-specified threshold altitude value. Thus the generated path is represented with a set of low-radar risk waypoints being the coordinates of its control points. The radar-aware path planner is then approximated using cubic B-splines by considering the least radar risk to the destination. Simulated results are presented, illustrating the potential benefits of such algorithms.展开更多
To address the shortcomings of single-step decision making in the existing deep reinforcement learning based unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)real-time path planning problem,a real-time UAV path planning algorithm based on...To address the shortcomings of single-step decision making in the existing deep reinforcement learning based unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)real-time path planning problem,a real-time UAV path planning algorithm based on long shortterm memory(RPP-LSTM)network is proposed,which combines the memory characteristics of recurrent neural network(RNN)and the deep reinforcement learning algorithm.LSTM networks are used in this algorithm as Q-value networks for the deep Q network(DQN)algorithm,which makes the decision of the Q-value network has some memory.Thanks to LSTM network,the Q-value network can use the previous environmental information and action information which effectively avoids the problem of single-step decision considering only the current environment.Besides,the algorithm proposes a hierarchical reward and punishment function for the specific problem of UAV real-time path planning,so that the UAV can more reasonably perform path planning.Simulation verification shows that compared with the traditional feed-forward neural network(FNN)based UAV autonomous path planning algorithm,the RPP-LSTM proposed in this paper can adapt to more complex environments and has significantly improved robustness and accuracy when performing UAV real-time path planning.展开更多
Collaborative coverage path planning(CCPP) refers to obtaining the shortest paths passing over all places except obstacles in a certain area or space. A multi-unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) collaborative CCPP algorithm ...Collaborative coverage path planning(CCPP) refers to obtaining the shortest paths passing over all places except obstacles in a certain area or space. A multi-unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) collaborative CCPP algorithm is proposed for the urban rescue search or military search in outdoor environment.Due to flexible control of small UAVs, it can be considered that all UAVs fly at the same altitude, that is, they perform search tasks on a two-dimensional plane. Based on the agents’ motion characteristics and environmental information, a mathematical model of CCPP problem is established. The minimum time for UAVs to complete the CCPP is the objective function, and complete coverage constraint, no-fly constraint, collision avoidance constraint, and communication constraint are considered. Four motion strategies and two communication strategies are designed. Then a distributed CCPP algorithm is designed based on hybrid strategies. Simulation results compared with patternbased genetic algorithm(PBGA) and random search method show that the proposed method has stronger real-time performance and better scalability and can complete the complete CCPP task more efficiently and stably.展开更多
Due to its flexibility and complementarity, the multiUAVs system is well adapted to complex and cramped workspaces, with great application potential in the search and rescue(SAR) and indoor goods delivery fields. Howe...Due to its flexibility and complementarity, the multiUAVs system is well adapted to complex and cramped workspaces, with great application potential in the search and rescue(SAR) and indoor goods delivery fields. However, safe and effective path planning of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)in the cramped environment is always challenging: conflicts with each other are frequent because of high-density flight paths, collision probability increases because of space constraints, and the search space increases significantly, including time scale, 3D scale and model scale. Thus, this paper proposes a hierarchical collaborative planning framework with a conflict avoidance module at the high level and a path generation module at the low level. The enhanced conflict-base search(ECBS) in our framework is improved to handle the conflicts in the global path planning and avoid the occurrence of local deadlock. And both the collision and kinematic models of UAVs are considered to improve path smoothness and flight safety. Moreover, we specifically designed and published the cramped environment test set containing various unique obstacles to evaluating our framework performance thoroughly. Experiments are carried out relying on Rviz, with multiple flight missions: random, opposite, and staggered, which showed that the proposed method can generate smooth cooperative paths without conflict for at least 60 UAVs in a few minutes.The benchmark and source code are released in https://github.com/inin-xingtian/multi-UAVs-path-planner.展开更多
In view of the complex marine environment of navigation,especially in the case of multiple static and dynamic obstacles,the traditional obstacle avoidance algorithms applied to unmanned surface vehicles(USV)are prone ...In view of the complex marine environment of navigation,especially in the case of multiple static and dynamic obstacles,the traditional obstacle avoidance algorithms applied to unmanned surface vehicles(USV)are prone to fall into the trap of local optimization.Therefore,this paper proposes an improved artificial potential field(APF)algorithm,which uses 5G communication technology to communicate between the USV and the control center.The algorithm introduces the USV discrimination mechanism to avoid the USV falling into local optimization when the USV encounter different obstacles in different scenarios.Considering the various scenarios between the USV and other dynamic obstacles such as vessels in the process of performing tasks,the algorithm introduces the concept of dynamic artificial potential field.For the multiple obstacles encountered in the process of USV sailing,based on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea(COLREGS),the USV determines whether the next step will fall into local optimization through the discriminationmechanism.The local potential field of the USV will dynamically adjust,and the reverse virtual gravitational potential field will be added to prevent it from falling into the local optimization and avoid collisions.The objective function and cost function are designed at the same time,so that the USV can smoothly switch between the global path and the local obstacle avoidance.The simulation results show that the improved APF algorithm proposed in this paper can successfully avoid various obstacles in the complex marine environment,and take navigation time and economic cost into account.展开更多
In recent decades,path planning for unmanned surface vehicles(USVs)in complex environments,such as harbours and coastlines,has become an important concern.The existing algorithms for real-time path planning for USVs a...In recent decades,path planning for unmanned surface vehicles(USVs)in complex environments,such as harbours and coastlines,has become an important concern.The existing algorithms for real-time path planning for USVs are either too slow at replanning or unreliable in changing environments with multiple dynamic obstacles.In this study,we developed a novel path planning method based on the D^(*) lite algorithm for real-time path planning of USVs in complex environments.The proposed method has the following advantages:(1)the computational time for replanning is reduced significantly owing to the use of an incremental algorithm and a new method for modelling dynamic obstacles;(2)a constrained artificial potential field method is employed to enhance the safety of the planned paths;and(3)the method is practical in terms of vehicle performance.The performance of the proposed method was evaluated through simulations and compared with those of existing algorithms.The simulation results confirmed the efficiency of the method for real-time path planning of USVs in complex environments.展开更多
This paper describes path re-planning techniques and underwater obstacle avoidance for unmanned surface vehicle(USV) based on multi-beam forward looking sonar(FLS). Near-optimal paths in static and dynamic environment...This paper describes path re-planning techniques and underwater obstacle avoidance for unmanned surface vehicle(USV) based on multi-beam forward looking sonar(FLS). Near-optimal paths in static and dynamic environments with underwater obstacles are computed using a numerical solution procedure based on an A* algorithm. The USV is modeled with a circular shape in 2 degrees of freedom(surge and yaw). In this paper, two-dimensional(2-D) underwater obstacle avoidance and the robust real-time path re-planning technique for actual USV using multi-beam FLS are developed. Our real-time path re-planning algorithm has been tested to regenerate the optimal path for several updated frames in the field of view of the sonar with a proper update frequency of the FLS. The performance of the proposed method was verified through simulations, and sea experiments. For simulations, the USV model can avoid both a single stationary obstacle, multiple stationary obstacles and moving obstacles with the near-optimal trajectory that are performed both in the vehicle and the world reference frame. For sea experiments, the proposed method for an underwater obstacle avoidance system is implemented with a USV test platform. The actual USV is automatically controlled and succeeded in its real-time avoidance against the stationary undersea obstacle in the field of view of the FLS together with the Global Positioning System(GPS) of the USV.展开更多
To address the issue of premature convergence and slow convergence rate in three-dimensional (3D) route planning of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) low-altitude penetration,a novel route planning method was proposed.Fir...To address the issue of premature convergence and slow convergence rate in three-dimensional (3D) route planning of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) low-altitude penetration,a novel route planning method was proposed.First and foremost,a coevolutionary multi-agent genetic algorithm (CE-MAGA) was formed by introducing coevolutionary mechanism to multi-agent genetic algorithm (MAGA),an efficient global optimization algorithm.A dynamic route representation form was also adopted to improve the flight route accuracy.Moreover,an efficient constraint handling method was used to simplify the treatment of multi-constraint and reduce the time-cost of planning computation.Simulation and corresponding analysis show that the planning results of CE-MAGA have better performance on terrain following,terrain avoidance,threat avoidance (TF/TA2) and lower route costs than other existing algorithms.In addition,feasible flight routes can be acquired within 2 s,and the convergence rate of the whole evolutionary process is very fast.展开更多
This paper investigates the path planning method of unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)in threedimensional map.Firstly,in order to keep a safe distance between UAV and obstacles,the obstacle grid in the map is expanded.By us...This paper investigates the path planning method of unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)in threedimensional map.Firstly,in order to keep a safe distance between UAV and obstacles,the obstacle grid in the map is expanded.By using the data structure of octree,the octree map is constructed,and the search nodes is significantly reduced.Then,the lazy theta*algorithm,including neighbor node search,line-of-sight algorithm and heuristics weight adjustment is improved.In the process of node search,UAV constraint conditions are considered to ensure the planned path is actually flyable.The redundant nodes are reduced by the line-of-sight algorithm through judging whether visible between two nodes.Heuristic weight adjustment strategy is employed to control the precision and speed of search.Finally,the simulation results show that the improved lazy theta*algorithm is suitable for path planning of UAV in complex environment with multi-constraints.The effectiveness and flight ability of the algorithm are verified by comparing experiments and real flight.展开更多
With the development of the Internet of Things(IoT),it requires better performance from wireless sensor networks(WSNs),such as larger coverage,longer lifetime,and lower latency.However,a large amount of data generated...With the development of the Internet of Things(IoT),it requires better performance from wireless sensor networks(WSNs),such as larger coverage,longer lifetime,and lower latency.However,a large amount of data generated from monitoring and long-distance transmission places a heavy burden on sensor nodes with the limited battery power.For this,we investigate an unmanned aerial vehicles assisted mobile wireless sensor network(UAV-assisted WSN)to prolong the network lifetime in this paper.Specifically,we use UAVs to assist the WSN in collecting data.In the current UAV-assisted WSN,the clustering and routing schemes are determined sequentially.However,such a separate consideration might not maximize the lifetime of the whole WSN due to the mutual coupling of clustering and routing.To efficiently prolong the lifetime of the WSN,we propose an integrated clustering and routing scheme that jointly optimizes the clustering and routing together.In the whole network space,it is intractable to efficiently obtain the optimal integrated clustering and routing scheme.Therefore,we propose the Monte-Las search strategy based on Monte Carlo and Las Vegas ideas,which can generate the chain matrix to guide the algorithm to find the solution faster.Unnecessary point-to-point collection leads to long collection paths,so a triangle optimization strategy is then proposed that finds a compromise path to shorten the collection path based on the geometric distribution and energy of sensor nodes.To avoid the coverage hole caused by the death of sensor nodes,the deployment of mobile sensor nodes and the preventive mechanism design are indispensable.An emergency data transmission mechanism is further proposed to reduce the latency of collecting the latency-sensitive data due to the absence of UAVs.Compared with the existing schemes,the proposed scheme can prolong the lifetime of the UAVassisted WSN at least by 360%,and shorten the collection path of UAVs by 56.24%.展开更多
This paper considers a variation on the Dubins path problem and proposes an improved waypoint navigation (WN) algorithm called Dubins waypoint navigation (DWN). Based on the Dubins path problem, an algorithm is develo...This paper considers a variation on the Dubins path problem and proposes an improved waypoint navigation (WN) algorithm called Dubins waypoint navigation (DWN). Based on the Dubins path problem, an algorithm is developed that is updated in real-time with a horizon of three waypoints. The purpose of DWN is to overcome a problem that we find in existing WN for small-class fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) of not accurately reaching waypoints. This problem results at times in high overshoot and, in the presence of wind disturbances, it can cause a vehicle to miss the waypoint and swirl around it. To prevent this, the DWN creates “new waypoints” that are in the background, called turning points. Examples illustrate the improvement of the performance of WN achieved using the DWN algorithm in terms of the targeting of waypoints while reducing fuel and time.展开更多
Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have attracted growing research interests in recent years,which can be used as cost-effective aerial platforms to transmit collected data packets to ground access points(APs).Thus,it is c...Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have attracted growing research interests in recent years,which can be used as cost-effective aerial platforms to transmit collected data packets to ground access points(APs).Thus,it is crucial to investigate robust airto-ground(A2G)wireless links for high-speed UAVs.However,the A2G wireless link is unstable as it suffers from large path-loss and severe Doppler effect due to the high mobility of UAVs.In order to meet these challenges,we propose an orthogonal time frequency space(OTFS)-based UAV communication system to relief the Doppler effect.Besides,considering that the energy of UAV is limited,we optimize the trajectory planning of UAV to minimize the energy consumption under the constraints of bit error rate(BER)and transmission rate,where the Doppler compensation is taken into account.Simulation results show that the performance of OTFS-based UAV system is superior to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM)-based UAV systems,which can accomplish transmission tasks over shorter distances with lower energy consumption.展开更多
In coastal environment,the motion of unmanned underwater vehicle(UUV)is influenced significantly by complex current.The operational performance of UUV can be greatly improved when the impact of ocean current is consid...In coastal environment,the motion of unmanned underwater vehicle(UUV)is influenced significantly by complex current.The operational performance of UUV can be greatly improved when the impact of ocean current is considered.A global path planning method of the static obstacle environmental space is addressed in the paper.Firstly,according to the typically coastal vortex,a model of ocean current is proposed and the influence to the motion of UUV is analyzed.Secondly,to satisfy the rapid requirement in path planning,a heuristic A*algorithm is used to design global planning path with multiple constraints.Besides,to meet the UUV’s smooth path requirement,Bezier curve theory is applied.Simulation experiments are performed to illustrate the feasibility of the algorithm in the steady current and vortex environment.展开更多
Cooperative path dynamic planning of a UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) team not only considers the capability of task requirement of single UCAV, but also considers the cooperative dynamic connection among members ...Cooperative path dynamic planning of a UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) team not only considers the capability of task requirement of single UCAV, but also considers the cooperative dynamic connection among members of the UCAV team. A cooperative path dynamic planning model of the UCAV team by applying a global optimization method is discussed in this paper and the corresponding model is built and analyzed. By the example simulation, the reasonable result acquired indicates that the model could meet dynamic planning demand under the circumstance of membership functions. The model is easy to be realized and has good practicability.展开更多
For autonomous MUAV,the Ground Control Station(GCS)including hardware and modular software programming such as control modular,navigation modular,display modular and monitor modular becomes important equipment to be d...For autonomous MUAV,the Ground Control Station(GCS)including hardware and modular software programming such as control modular,navigation modular,display modular and monitor modular becomes important equipment to be developed.This paper emphasizes the global planning and the local replanning arithmetic based on three-dimensional velocity potential field for the moving threats.During the test on the ground and in the sky,GCS show the remote sensing information precisely and send the control command in time.The system can be used to assist in the function of autonomous complex task for MUAV.展开更多
Background In recent decades,unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have developed rapidly and been widely applied in many domains,including photography,reconstruction,monitoring,and search and rescue.In such applications,one ...Background In recent decades,unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have developed rapidly and been widely applied in many domains,including photography,reconstruction,monitoring,and search and rescue.In such applications,one key issue is path and view planning,which tells UAVs exactly where to fly and how to search.Methods With specific consideration for three popular UAV applications(scene reconstruction,environment exploration,and aerial cinematography),we present a survey that should assist researchers in positioning and evaluating their works in the context of existing solutions.Results/Conclusions It should also help newcomers and practitioners in related fields quickly gain an overview of the vast literature.In addition to the current research status,we analyze and elaborate on advantages,disadvantages,and potential explorative trends for each application domain.展开更多
This paper studies the moving path following(MPF)problem for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)under output constraints and wind disturbances.The vehicle is required to converge to a reference path moving with re...This paper studies the moving path following(MPF)problem for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)under output constraints and wind disturbances.The vehicle is required to converge to a reference path moving with respect to the inertial frame,while the path following error is not expected to violate the predefined boundaries.Differently from existing moving path following guidance laws,the proposed method removes complex geometric transformation by formulating the moving path following problem into a second-order time-varying control problem.A nominal moving path following guidance law is designed with disturbances and their derivatives estimated by high-order disturbance observers.To guarantee that the path following error will not exceed the prescribed bounds,a robust control barrier function is developed and incorporated into controller design with quadratic program based framework.The proposed method does not require the initial position of the UAV to be within predefined boundaries.And the safety margin concept makes error-constraint be respected even if in a noisy environment.The proposed guidance law is validated through numerical simulations of shipboard landing and hardware-in-theloop(HIL)experiments.展开更多
基金funded by Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting Project number(PNURSP2022R66),Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University,Riyadh,Saudi Arabia.
文摘Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)or drones introduced for military applications are gaining popularity in several other fields as well such as security and surveillance,due to their ability to perform repetitive and tedious tasks in hazardous environments.Their increased demand created the requirement for enabling the UAVs to traverse independently through the Three Dimensional(3D)flight environment consisting of various obstacles which have been efficiently addressed by metaheuristics in past literature.However,not a single optimization algorithms can solve all kind of optimization problem effectively.Therefore,there is dire need to integrate metaheuristic for general acceptability.To address this issue,in this paper,a novel reinforcement learning controlled Grey Wolf Optimisation-Archimedes Optimisation Algorithm(QGA)has been exhaustively introduced and exhaustively validated firstly on 22 benchmark functions and then,utilized to obtain the optimum flyable path without collision for UAVs in three dimensional environment.The performance of the developed QGA has been compared against the various metaheuristics.The simulation experimental results reveal that the QGA algorithm acquire a feasible and effective flyable path more efficiently in complicated environment.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(6167321461673217+2 种基金61673219)the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China(18KJB120011)the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province(KYCX19_0299)
文摘This paper presents a path planning approach for rotary unmanned aerial vehicles(R-UAVs)in a known static rough terrain environment.This approach aims to find collision-free and feasible paths with minimum altitude,length and angle variable rate.First,a three-dimensional(3D)modeling method is proposed to reduce the computation burden of the dynamic models of R-UAVs.Considering the length,height and tuning angle of a path,the path planning of R-UAVs is described as a tri-objective optimization problem.Then,an improved multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed.To render the algorithm more effective in dealing with this problem,a vibration function is introduced into the collided solutions to improve the algorithm efficiency.Meanwhile,the selection of the global best position is taken into account by the reference point method.Finally,the experimental environment is built with the help of the Google map and the 3D terrain generator World Machine.Experimental results under two different rough terrains from Guilin and Lanzhou of China demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed algorithm in finding Pareto optimal paths.
基金Project(61120106010)supported by the Projects of Major International(Regional)Joint Research Program Nature Science Foundation of ChinaProject(61304215,61203078)supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China+1 种基金Project(2013000704)supported by the Beijing Outstanding Ph.D.Program Mentor,ChinaProject(61321002)supported by the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘The optimal path planning for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) in multi-target surveillance tasks(MTST) in the presence of wind is concerned.To take into account the minimal turning radius of UAVs,the Dubins model is used to approximate the dynamics of UAVs.Based on the assumption,the path planning problem of UAVs in MTST can be formulated as a Dubins traveling salesman problem(DTSP).By considering its prohibitively high computational cost,the Dubins paths under terminal heading relaxation are introduced,which leads to significant reduction of the optimization scale and difficulty of the whole problem.Meanwhile,in view of the impact of wind on UAVs' paths,the notion of virtual target is proposed.The application of the idea successfully converts the Dubins path planning problem from an initial configuration to a target in wind into a problem of finding the minimal root of a transcendental equation.Then,the Dubins tour is derived by using differential evolution(DE) algorithm which employs random-key encoding technique to optimize the visiting sequence of waypoints.Finally,the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated through computational experiments.Numerical results exhibit that the proposed algorithm can produce high quality solutions to the problem.
文摘This research focuses on trajectory generation algorithms that take into account the stealthiness of autonomous UAVs;generating stealthy paths through a region laden with enemy radars. The algorithm is employed to estimate the risk cost of the navigational space and generate an optimized path based on the user-specified threshold altitude value. Thus the generated path is represented with a set of low-radar risk waypoints being the coordinates of its control points. The radar-aware path planner is then approximated using cubic B-splines by considering the least radar risk to the destination. Simulated results are presented, illustrating the potential benefits of such algorithms.
基金supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Prog ram of Shaanxi(2022JQ-593)。
文摘To address the shortcomings of single-step decision making in the existing deep reinforcement learning based unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)real-time path planning problem,a real-time UAV path planning algorithm based on long shortterm memory(RPP-LSTM)network is proposed,which combines the memory characteristics of recurrent neural network(RNN)and the deep reinforcement learning algorithm.LSTM networks are used in this algorithm as Q-value networks for the deep Q network(DQN)algorithm,which makes the decision of the Q-value network has some memory.Thanks to LSTM network,the Q-value network can use the previous environmental information and action information which effectively avoids the problem of single-step decision considering only the current environment.Besides,the algorithm proposes a hierarchical reward and punishment function for the specific problem of UAV real-time path planning,so that the UAV can more reasonably perform path planning.Simulation verification shows that compared with the traditional feed-forward neural network(FNN)based UAV autonomous path planning algorithm,the RPP-LSTM proposed in this paper can adapt to more complex environments and has significantly improved robustness and accuracy when performing UAV real-time path planning.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61903036, 61822304)Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2021SHZDZX0100)。
文摘Collaborative coverage path planning(CCPP) refers to obtaining the shortest paths passing over all places except obstacles in a certain area or space. A multi-unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) collaborative CCPP algorithm is proposed for the urban rescue search or military search in outdoor environment.Due to flexible control of small UAVs, it can be considered that all UAVs fly at the same altitude, that is, they perform search tasks on a two-dimensional plane. Based on the agents’ motion characteristics and environmental information, a mathematical model of CCPP problem is established. The minimum time for UAVs to complete the CCPP is the objective function, and complete coverage constraint, no-fly constraint, collision avoidance constraint, and communication constraint are considered. Four motion strategies and two communication strategies are designed. Then a distributed CCPP algorithm is designed based on hybrid strategies. Simulation results compared with patternbased genetic algorithm(PBGA) and random search method show that the proposed method has stronger real-time performance and better scalability and can complete the complete CCPP task more efficiently and stably.
基金partly supported by Program for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62373052, U1913203, 61903034)Youth Talent Promotion Project of China Association for Science and TechnologyBeijing Institute of Technology Research Fund Program for Young Scholars。
文摘Due to its flexibility and complementarity, the multiUAVs system is well adapted to complex and cramped workspaces, with great application potential in the search and rescue(SAR) and indoor goods delivery fields. However, safe and effective path planning of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)in the cramped environment is always challenging: conflicts with each other are frequent because of high-density flight paths, collision probability increases because of space constraints, and the search space increases significantly, including time scale, 3D scale and model scale. Thus, this paper proposes a hierarchical collaborative planning framework with a conflict avoidance module at the high level and a path generation module at the low level. The enhanced conflict-base search(ECBS) in our framework is improved to handle the conflicts in the global path planning and avoid the occurrence of local deadlock. And both the collision and kinematic models of UAVs are considered to improve path smoothness and flight safety. Moreover, we specifically designed and published the cramped environment test set containing various unique obstacles to evaluating our framework performance thoroughly. Experiments are carried out relying on Rviz, with multiple flight missions: random, opposite, and staggered, which showed that the proposed method can generate smooth cooperative paths without conflict for at least 60 UAVs in a few minutes.The benchmark and source code are released in https://github.com/inin-xingtian/multi-UAVs-path-planner.
基金This work was supported by the Postdoctoral Fund of FDCT,Macao(Grant No.0003/2021/APD).Any opinions,findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the sponsor.
文摘In view of the complex marine environment of navigation,especially in the case of multiple static and dynamic obstacles,the traditional obstacle avoidance algorithms applied to unmanned surface vehicles(USV)are prone to fall into the trap of local optimization.Therefore,this paper proposes an improved artificial potential field(APF)algorithm,which uses 5G communication technology to communicate between the USV and the control center.The algorithm introduces the USV discrimination mechanism to avoid the USV falling into local optimization when the USV encounter different obstacles in different scenarios.Considering the various scenarios between the USV and other dynamic obstacles such as vessels in the process of performing tasks,the algorithm introduces the concept of dynamic artificial potential field.For the multiple obstacles encountered in the process of USV sailing,based on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea(COLREGS),the USV determines whether the next step will fall into local optimization through the discriminationmechanism.The local potential field of the USV will dynamically adjust,and the reverse virtual gravitational potential field will be added to prevent it from falling into the local optimization and avoid collisions.The objective function and cost function are designed at the same time,so that the USV can smoothly switch between the global path and the local obstacle avoidance.The simulation results show that the improved APF algorithm proposed in this paper can successfully avoid various obstacles in the complex marine environment,and take navigation time and economic cost into account.
基金financially supported by the Cultivation of Scientific Research Ability of Young Talents of Shanghai Jiao Tong University(Grant No.19X100040072)the Key Laboratory of Marine Intelligent Equipment and System of Ministry of Education(Grant No.MIES-2020-07)。
文摘In recent decades,path planning for unmanned surface vehicles(USVs)in complex environments,such as harbours and coastlines,has become an important concern.The existing algorithms for real-time path planning for USVs are either too slow at replanning or unreliable in changing environments with multiple dynamic obstacles.In this study,we developed a novel path planning method based on the D^(*) lite algorithm for real-time path planning of USVs in complex environments.The proposed method has the following advantages:(1)the computational time for replanning is reduced significantly owing to the use of an incremental algorithm and a new method for modelling dynamic obstacles;(2)a constrained artificial potential field method is employed to enhance the safety of the planned paths;and(3)the method is practical in terms of vehicle performance.The performance of the proposed method was evaluated through simulations and compared with those of existing algorithms.The simulation results confirmed the efficiency of the method for real-time path planning of USVs in complex environments.
基金supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Thailand
文摘This paper describes path re-planning techniques and underwater obstacle avoidance for unmanned surface vehicle(USV) based on multi-beam forward looking sonar(FLS). Near-optimal paths in static and dynamic environments with underwater obstacles are computed using a numerical solution procedure based on an A* algorithm. The USV is modeled with a circular shape in 2 degrees of freedom(surge and yaw). In this paper, two-dimensional(2-D) underwater obstacle avoidance and the robust real-time path re-planning technique for actual USV using multi-beam FLS are developed. Our real-time path re-planning algorithm has been tested to regenerate the optimal path for several updated frames in the field of view of the sonar with a proper update frequency of the FLS. The performance of the proposed method was verified through simulations, and sea experiments. For simulations, the USV model can avoid both a single stationary obstacle, multiple stationary obstacles and moving obstacles with the near-optimal trajectory that are performed both in the vehicle and the world reference frame. For sea experiments, the proposed method for an underwater obstacle avoidance system is implemented with a USV test platform. The actual USV is automatically controlled and succeeded in its real-time avoidance against the stationary undersea obstacle in the field of view of the FLS together with the Global Positioning System(GPS) of the USV.
基金Project(60925011) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of ChinaProject(9140A06040510BQXXXX) supported by Advanced Research Foundation of General Armament Department,China
文摘To address the issue of premature convergence and slow convergence rate in three-dimensional (3D) route planning of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) low-altitude penetration,a novel route planning method was proposed.First and foremost,a coevolutionary multi-agent genetic algorithm (CE-MAGA) was formed by introducing coevolutionary mechanism to multi-agent genetic algorithm (MAGA),an efficient global optimization algorithm.A dynamic route representation form was also adopted to improve the flight route accuracy.Moreover,an efficient constraint handling method was used to simplify the treatment of multi-constraint and reduce the time-cost of planning computation.Simulation and corresponding analysis show that the planning results of CE-MAGA have better performance on terrain following,terrain avoidance,threat avoidance (TF/TA2) and lower route costs than other existing algorithms.In addition,feasible flight routes can be acquired within 2 s,and the convergence rate of the whole evolutionary process is very fast.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant U2013201in part by the Key R & D projects (Social Development) in Jiangsu Province of China under Grant BE2020704
文摘This paper investigates the path planning method of unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)in threedimensional map.Firstly,in order to keep a safe distance between UAV and obstacles,the obstacle grid in the map is expanded.By using the data structure of octree,the octree map is constructed,and the search nodes is significantly reduced.Then,the lazy theta*algorithm,including neighbor node search,line-of-sight algorithm and heuristics weight adjustment is improved.In the process of node search,UAV constraint conditions are considered to ensure the planned path is actually flyable.The redundant nodes are reduced by the line-of-sight algorithm through judging whether visible between two nodes.Heuristic weight adjustment strategy is employed to control the precision and speed of search.Finally,the simulation results show that the improved lazy theta*algorithm is suitable for path planning of UAV in complex environment with multi-constraints.The effectiveness and flight ability of the algorithm are verified by comparing experiments and real flight.
基金supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 62122069,62071431,62072490 and 62301490in part by Science and Technology Development Fund of Macao SAR,China under Grant 0158/2022/A+1 种基金in part by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(2022A1515011287)in part by MYRG2020-00107-IOTSC,and in part by FDCT SKL-IOTSC(UM)-2021-2023.
文摘With the development of the Internet of Things(IoT),it requires better performance from wireless sensor networks(WSNs),such as larger coverage,longer lifetime,and lower latency.However,a large amount of data generated from monitoring and long-distance transmission places a heavy burden on sensor nodes with the limited battery power.For this,we investigate an unmanned aerial vehicles assisted mobile wireless sensor network(UAV-assisted WSN)to prolong the network lifetime in this paper.Specifically,we use UAVs to assist the WSN in collecting data.In the current UAV-assisted WSN,the clustering and routing schemes are determined sequentially.However,such a separate consideration might not maximize the lifetime of the whole WSN due to the mutual coupling of clustering and routing.To efficiently prolong the lifetime of the WSN,we propose an integrated clustering and routing scheme that jointly optimizes the clustering and routing together.In the whole network space,it is intractable to efficiently obtain the optimal integrated clustering and routing scheme.Therefore,we propose the Monte-Las search strategy based on Monte Carlo and Las Vegas ideas,which can generate the chain matrix to guide the algorithm to find the solution faster.Unnecessary point-to-point collection leads to long collection paths,so a triangle optimization strategy is then proposed that finds a compromise path to shorten the collection path based on the geometric distribution and energy of sensor nodes.To avoid the coverage hole caused by the death of sensor nodes,the deployment of mobile sensor nodes and the preventive mechanism design are indispensable.An emergency data transmission mechanism is further proposed to reduce the latency of collecting the latency-sensitive data due to the absence of UAVs.Compared with the existing schemes,the proposed scheme can prolong the lifetime of the UAVassisted WSN at least by 360%,and shorten the collection path of UAVs by 56.24%.
文摘This paper considers a variation on the Dubins path problem and proposes an improved waypoint navigation (WN) algorithm called Dubins waypoint navigation (DWN). Based on the Dubins path problem, an algorithm is developed that is updated in real-time with a horizon of three waypoints. The purpose of DWN is to overcome a problem that we find in existing WN for small-class fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) of not accurately reaching waypoints. This problem results at times in high overshoot and, in the presence of wind disturbances, it can cause a vehicle to miss the waypoint and swirl around it. To prevent this, the DWN creates “new waypoints” that are in the background, called turning points. Examples illustrate the improvement of the performance of WN achieved using the DWN algorithm in terms of the targeting of waypoints while reducing fuel and time.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant 2020YFB1804800)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant U22B2008 and Grant 61922010)the Beijing Natural Science Foundation(Grant JQ20019)。
文摘Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have attracted growing research interests in recent years,which can be used as cost-effective aerial platforms to transmit collected data packets to ground access points(APs).Thus,it is crucial to investigate robust airto-ground(A2G)wireless links for high-speed UAVs.However,the A2G wireless link is unstable as it suffers from large path-loss and severe Doppler effect due to the high mobility of UAVs.In order to meet these challenges,we propose an orthogonal time frequency space(OTFS)-based UAV communication system to relief the Doppler effect.Besides,considering that the energy of UAV is limited,we optimize the trajectory planning of UAV to minimize the energy consumption under the constraints of bit error rate(BER)and transmission rate,where the Doppler compensation is taken into account.Simulation results show that the performance of OTFS-based UAV system is superior to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM)-based UAV systems,which can accomplish transmission tasks over shorter distances with lower energy consumption.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation (NNSF) of China under Grant 51179038
文摘In coastal environment,the motion of unmanned underwater vehicle(UUV)is influenced significantly by complex current.The operational performance of UUV can be greatly improved when the impact of ocean current is considered.A global path planning method of the static obstacle environmental space is addressed in the paper.Firstly,according to the typically coastal vortex,a model of ocean current is proposed and the influence to the motion of UUV is analyzed.Secondly,to satisfy the rapid requirement in path planning,a heuristic A*algorithm is used to design global planning path with multiple constraints.Besides,to meet the UUV’s smooth path requirement,Bezier curve theory is applied.Simulation experiments are performed to illustrate the feasibility of the algorithm in the steady current and vortex environment.
基金supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China in 2012 under Grant No. 11GJ003-074the Science Foundation of Aeronautics of China under Grant No. 20085584010
文摘Cooperative path dynamic planning of a UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) team not only considers the capability of task requirement of single UCAV, but also considers the cooperative dynamic connection among members of the UCAV team. A cooperative path dynamic planning model of the UCAV team by applying a global optimization method is discussed in this paper and the corresponding model is built and analyzed. By the example simulation, the reasonable result acquired indicates that the model could meet dynamic planning demand under the circumstance of membership functions. The model is easy to be realized and has good practicability.
基金Sponsored by the Key Programs of National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.60736025 and 60905056)the Major Programs of China National Space Administration(Grant No.D2120060013)
文摘For autonomous MUAV,the Ground Control Station(GCS)including hardware and modular software programming such as control modular,navigation modular,display modular and monitor modular becomes important equipment to be developed.This paper emphasizes the global planning and the local replanning arithmetic based on three-dimensional velocity potential field for the moving threats.During the test on the ground and in the sky,GCS show the remote sensing information precisely and send the control command in time.The system can be used to assist in the function of autonomous complex task for MUAV.
基金LHTD(20170003)and the Guangdong Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy(SZ).
文摘Background In recent decades,unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have developed rapidly and been widely applied in many domains,including photography,reconstruction,monitoring,and search and rescue.In such applications,one key issue is path and view planning,which tells UAVs exactly where to fly and how to search.Methods With specific consideration for three popular UAV applications(scene reconstruction,environment exploration,and aerial cinematography),we present a survey that should assist researchers in positioning and evaluating their works in the context of existing solutions.Results/Conclusions It should also help newcomers and practitioners in related fields quickly gain an overview of the vast literature.In addition to the current research status,we analyze and elaborate on advantages,disadvantages,and potential explorative trends for each application domain.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundations of China(62173016,62073019)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(YWF-23-JC-04,YWF-23-JC-02)。
文摘This paper studies the moving path following(MPF)problem for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)under output constraints and wind disturbances.The vehicle is required to converge to a reference path moving with respect to the inertial frame,while the path following error is not expected to violate the predefined boundaries.Differently from existing moving path following guidance laws,the proposed method removes complex geometric transformation by formulating the moving path following problem into a second-order time-varying control problem.A nominal moving path following guidance law is designed with disturbances and their derivatives estimated by high-order disturbance observers.To guarantee that the path following error will not exceed the prescribed bounds,a robust control barrier function is developed and incorporated into controller design with quadratic program based framework.The proposed method does not require the initial position of the UAV to be within predefined boundaries.And the safety margin concept makes error-constraint be respected even if in a noisy environment.The proposed guidance law is validated through numerical simulations of shipboard landing and hardware-in-theloop(HIL)experiments.
