3D Path Planning for a UAV with Flyable and Safety Constraints

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly being deployed by the military to tackle rising terrorism and crime, for combat and reconnaissance, as well as surveillance purposes. Amazon, an online retailer, recently announced its plan to use UAV for package deliveries in the city. UAVs are also being put to use for topographical mapping of a region [13]. Thus, large range of potential applications of UAVs in military and civilian sector has generated a lot of academic as well as commercial research [7]. Despite the advance in robotic motion planning since 1970s, autonomous navigation of UAVs is still an active research area. In this research project, we look at path planning of a UAV in an urban environment, where obstacles such as buildings may be present. Path planning in UAVs is challenging due to the complex kinematic and dynamic constraints on the path. In particular, flyable paths should satisfy curvature and torsion constraints [6]. Curvature constraints limit the maximum curvature (radius of turning) on the path. Similarly, torsion constraints limit the rate of rotation of UAV about the axis that coincides with tangent of the path. Since the environment may contain known or unknown obstacles, safety constraints mandate the the non-intersection of paths with obstacles or other UAV. For the purpose of this project, speed of the UAVs is assumed to be constant, which is the case for fixed-wing UAVs. While several solutions for path planning for UAVs are available, but either they are computationally intensive, not optimal or do not satisfy all constraints. In this project, we attempt to improve upon existing path planning algorithms. Successful completion of the project would certainly help in taking the field forward.