A Four-Dimensional Space-Time Automatic Obstacle Avoidance Trajectory Planning Method for Multi-UAV Cooperative Formation Flight

Abstract

Trajectory planning of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is the basis for them to form the formation flight. By considering trajectory planning of multiple UAVs in formation flight in three-dimensional space, a trajectory planning method in four-dimensional space-time is proposed which, firstly, according to the formation configuration, adopts the Hungarian algorithm to optimize the formation task allocation. Based on that, by considering the flight safety of UAVs in formation, a hierarchical decomposition algorithm in four-dimensional space-time is innovatively put forward with spatial positions and time constraints both considered. It is applied to trajectory planning and automatic obstacle avoidance under the condition of no communication available between UAVs in the formation. The simulation results illustrated that the proposed method is effective in cooperative trajectory planning and automatic obstacle avoidance in advance for multiple UAVs. Meanwhile, it has been tested in a Swarm Unmanned Aerial System project and boasts quite significant value in engineering applications.

Research on vehicle lane-changing obstacle avoidance for Internet of Vehicles

“…Artificial potential field (APF) is widely used in path planning of multi-robot cooperative systems and local real-time obstacle avoidance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) [13]. An unmanned aircraft or robot plans its own direction and speed of motion based on the gravitational and repulsive vectors generated by the surrounding obstacles.…”

Reference Generator for a System of Multiple Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

“…Working with a team of vehicles adds extra constraints to the system. In [27], the Hungarian algorithm was used for the trajectory planning of multiple UAVs with obstacle avoidance. Besides avoiding static obstacles, each vehicle was considered as a dynamic obstacle, so the offline approach was not suitable in this scenario.…”

Post-Disaster Emergency Communications Enhanced by Drones and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access: Three-Dimensional Deployment Optimization and Spectrum Allocation

“…Furthermore, drones are typically equipped with advanced sensors and communication technologies, allowing them to collect real-time environmental information and transmit it to command centers. This provides real-time and accurate data support for post-disaster rescue efforts, helping command centers better understand the situation, allocate resources, and formulate rescue plans [7][8][9][10]. The high maneuverability and multifunctionality of drones enable them to adapt to various emergency communication needs, improving the efficiency and success rate of post-disaster rescue.…”