Path Planning for Low-Altitude Flying Vehicles

• Main Authors: Kuo Po-Ting, 郭柏廷
• Other Authors: Wang Li-Sheng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/12832632469115472200

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 應用力學研究所 === 89 === In this thesis, the method of dynamic programming is applied to deal with the path-planning problem for low-altitude flying vehicles. The motion of the airplanes is considered to model the behavior of the vehicles. The capability of flight along a straight line with constant velocity is used to deduce the rate-of-climb constraint on the possible paths. The limitations of turning at constant speeds induce the constraint of turning radius on curved paths. These physical constraints are then invoked to obtain possible paths, among which the optimal one is desired. The search of the optimal path can be categorized as the shortest path problem, for which various algorithms can be adopted. One strategy is the so-called Label Correcting Methods, among them the Dijkstra’s algorithm is a special case. On the other hand, since a shortest path problem is equivalent to a deterministic finite-state problem, it can be solved by the method of dynamic programming (DP), which is based on the Principle of Optimality. Due to its flexibility, the DP method can accommodate more complicated scenario in which the stochastic process may be involved. For a given terrain, the flight paths are envisioned to lie on the corresponding virtual terrain, which reflects the low altitude feature of the flight. After discretization of the terrain, the notions of forbidden points and forbidden paths are introduced to realize the rate-of-climb constraint and the constraint of turning radius, respectively. To expedite the algorithm, the concepts of the successive update and the spiral scheme are proposed. The simulation results show that the methodology discussed in the thesis can efficiently provide the optimal paths of a low-altitude flying vehicle under various conditions, which may have potential applications in designing the flight paths for missiles or bombers.