Unmanned aerial vehicle path planning with hybrid motion algorithm for obstacle avoidance

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are gaining prominence in autonomously navigating diverse terrains, requiring the capability to establish collision-free trajectories and adapt them on-the-fly to changing environments. This study's central contribution lies in devising an optimized motion planning framework tailored for UAVs operating amidst dynamic scenarios. This framework comprises two integral components: an optimized motion planner and a dynamic scenario generator. To enhance trajectory optimization, the optimized motion planner enhances the Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRTX) method with a Covariant Hamiltonian Optimization for Motion Planning (CHOMP) algorithm-based optimizer. Addressing the challenges posed by dynamic environments characterized by abrupt appearance, disappearance, or shifting of constraints, the motion planner adeptly identifies environmental changes and computes collision-free paths during UAV navigation. The dynamic scenario generator integrates a UAV simulator and barrier information, effectively emulating UAV obstacles and intended flight patterns within a Unity-based simulation environment. The simulator employed is Flight Mare, a versatile quadrotor simulator that employs Unity's graphics engine and a physics engine for dynamic simulations. Through comprehensive simulations, the proposed approach is validated, demonstrating its efficacy in enabling UAVs to autonomously navigate dynamic environments while avoiding obstacles successfully.