A Review of Constrained Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm-Based Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Mission Planning: Key Techniques and Challenges

Abstract

UAV mission planning is one of the core problems in the field of UAV applications. Currently, mission planning needs to simultaneously optimize multiple conflicting objectives and take into account multiple mutually coupled constraints, and traditional optimization algorithms struggle to effectively address these difficulties. Constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms have been proven to be effective methods for solving complex constrained multi-objective optimization problems and have been gradually applied to UAV mission planning. However, recent advances in this area have not been summarized. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of this topic, first introducing the basic classification of UAV mission planning and its applications in different fields, proposing a new classification method based on the priorities of objectives and constraints, and describing the constraints of UAV mission planning from the perspectives of mathematical models and planning algorithms. Then, the importance of constraint handling techniques in UAV mission planning and their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed in detail, and the methods for determining individual settings in multiple populations and improvement strategies in constraint evolution algorithms are discussed. Finally, the method from the related literature is presented to compare in detail the application weights of constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms in UAV mission planning and provide directions and references for future research.