A Case based Online Trajectory Planning Method of Autonomous Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles with Weapon Release Constraints

Abstract

As a challenging and highly complex problem, the trajectory planning for unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) focuses on optimising flight trajectory under such constraints as kinematics and complicated battlefield environment. An online case-based trajectory planning strategy is proposed in this study to achieve rapid control variables solution of UCAV flight trajectory for the of delivery airborne guided bombs. Firstly, with an analysis of the ballistic model of airborne guided bombs, the trajectory planning model of UCAVs is established with launch acceptable region (LAR) as a terminal constraint. Secondly, a case-based planning strategy is presented, which involves four cases depending on the situation of UCAVs at the current moment. Finally, the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed planning strategy is validated by numerical simulations, and the results show that the presented strategy is suitable for UCAV performing airborne guided delivery missions in dynamic environments.

Memory-Enhanced Twin Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (ME-TD3)-Based Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle Trajectory Planning for Avoiding Radar Detection Threats in Dynamic and Unknown Environments

“…To improve the accuracy of UCAV trajectory planning in a short period, more constructive and meaningful research has been conducted. Tang et al proposed an online case-based trajectory planning strategy to achieve rapid solutions of control variables of a UCAV flight trajectory [12]. Furthermore, Wei et al presented a novel approach to solve the formation of online collaborative trajectory planning for UCAVs using the HP adaptive pseudospectral method [13].…”