Unmanned Aerial Vehicle 3D Path Planning Based on an Improved Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm

A well-organized path can assist unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in performing tasks efficiently. The artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) is a widely used intelligent optimization algorithm. However, the traditional AFSA exhibits issues of non-uniform population distribution and susceptibility to local optimization. Despite the numerous AFSA variants introduced in recent years, many of them still grapple with challenges like slow convergence rates. To tackle the UAV path planning problem more effectively, we present an improved AFSA algorithm (IAFSA), which is primarily rooted in the following considerations: (1) The prevailing AFSA variants have not entirely resolved concerns related to population distribution disparities and a predisposition for local optimization. (2) Recognizing the specific demands of the UAV path planning problem, an algorithm that can combine global search capabilities with swift convergence becomes imperative. To evaluate the performance of IAFSA, it was tested on 10 constrained benchmark functions from CEC2020; the effectiveness of the proposed strategy is verified on the UAV 3D path planning problem; and comparative algorithmic experiments of IAFSA are conducted in different maps. The results of the comparison experiments show that IAFSA has high global convergence ability and speed.