Radar-aware path planning with B-spline trajectory generation for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

Stealth path planning for unmanned aerial vehicle operations in radar zones

“…Path-planning is the process of automatically generating traversable paths for an autonomous moving object based on a set of predefined criteria, avoiding obstacles along the way. Path-planning can be broadly categorized as motion planning and trajectory planning [18]. In motion planning, the focus is on getting the object from a starting position to an end position, considering primarily on the translation and rotations needed to get the object there.…”

“…Recent work has also included the aspects of dynamics, constraints, and optimality. Trajectory planning on the other hand focuses on taking the solution from the motion planning process and then determining a process of moving the object along that path, while still considering the mechanical limitations of that object [18].…”

“…Many traditional path planners implement a brute force search for the next best alternate path, which is inefficient [18]. Later implementations went on to build a tree structure of possible alternate paths, and then using a branch and bound method to locate the best solution.…”

“…The size of a target's image on a radar screen is measured by the RCS and denoted by the symbol σ and expressed in square meters. The RCS is the area a target would have to occupy to produce the amount of reflected power that is detected back at the radar [18]. The computation of the energy received by a radar is given by the radar range equation [100]…”

“…UAVs will require more advanced guidance capabilities, in particular ones that increase the vehicle autonomy [18].…”