Altitude minimization of a group of unmanned low-flying vehicles without use of a priori information about the physical fields of the Earth

The article proposes a method for minimizing the altitued of a group of unmanned low-flying vehicles formed mainly over the lowest parts of the terrain. The input information is point slant ranges, the current parameters of the motion of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the specified end point of the route. As a result of the work, by means of computer simulation of Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) motion in mountainous areas, the effectiveness of the proposed method for minimizing the altitude was evaluated. Computer simulation has shown that depending on the location of the start and end points of the trajectory, the terrain, the size of the permitted motion sector and the characteristics of the UAV, the average altitude of the trajectories of a group of low-flying vehicles decreases by approximately 150–540 m, which allows motion significantly below the tops of the terrain.