Autonomous Path Planning of Unmanned Air Systems Using Computational Methods and Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

In recent years, the use of Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) has become popular in many industries including agriculture, logistics, security agencies and humanitarian missions. An Unmanned Air System consists of a drone or Unmanned Aircraft (UA) connected to the Ground Control Station (GCS) via various means of communication. During the early stages of development, most of these UAs were remotely operated by a pilot. However, various modes of autonomy are added nowadays to make way for autonomous flights. This allows the systems to be implemented in long haul flights, specifically in the realm of parcel delivery and humanitarian aid missions. To perform these missions, path planning is required since there is a multitude of paths that the UA can follow in order to reach its destination. The paths may vary in terms of distance, environmental parameters including wind speed and temperature, potential danger zones and so on. In order to minimize the costs of the user and to ensure the success of the mission, the operator has to select the best possible path for the flight. Since the problem comprises a lot of variables, a multiobjective function may be devised to help with the selection process. This paper explores the use of a custom-made cost function which is used to check the usefulness of a set path. The cost function takes into account the distance, time of completion and the energy consumption of the path to come up with a score for that specific path. The start and end points of the journey are fed to the system and an optimization algorithm is used with the custom-made cost function to derive the optimum path for the UA to complete the mission. The process is run for an array of environments, each with a different start and end point, and the optimized path is fed to the UA. The UA then actually flies through this route and the results of the actual flight are compared to the results obtained from the theoretical process to ensure that there is harmony between them.