UAVs mission planning with imposition of flight level through fast marching square

Many proposed activities to be carried out by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in urban environments require a control over the altitude for different purposes. Energy saving and minimization of costs are some of these objectives. This work presents a method to impose a flight level in a mission planning carried out by a UAV in a 3D urban environment. The planning avoids all obstacles encountered in the environment and maintains a fixed flight level in the majority of the trajectory. The method used as planner is the Fast Marching Square (FM2) method, which includes two adjustment parameters. Depending on the values of these parameters, it is possible to introduce into the planning an altitude constraint, as well as to modify the smoothness of the trajectory and the safety margins from the obstacles. Several simulated experiments have been carried out in different situations obtaining very good results.

3d path planning; fast marching; flight level; mission planning; uav;unmanned aerial vehicles; fronts; curve

UAVs mission planning with imposition of flight level through fast marching square Articles