Adaptive path planning for unmanned aerial vehicles based on bi-level programming and variable planning time interval

This paper presents an adaptive path planner for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to adapt a real-time path search procedure to variations and fluctuations of UAVs’ relevant performances, with respect to sensory capability, maneuverability, and flight velocity limit. On the basis of a novel adaptability-involved problem statement, bi-level programming (BLP) and variable planning step techniques are introduced to model the necessary path planning components and then an adaptive path planner is developed for the purpose of adaptation and optimization. Additionally, both probabilistic-risk-based obstacle avoidance and performance limits are described as path search constraints to guarantee path safety and navigability. A discrete-search-based path planning solution, embedded with four optimization strategies, is especially designed for the planner to efficiently generate optimal flight paths in complex operational spaces, within which different surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) are deployed. Simulation results in challenging and stochastic scenarios firstly demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed planner, and then verify its great adaptability and relative stability when planning optimal paths for a UAV with changing or fluctuating performances.     

空时分组编码的无人机中继通信航迹规划方法

无人机(UAV)中继通信是实现远距离点对点无线通信的一种重要技术手段。为提高无人机中继通信系统链路传输的可靠性,提出基于空时分组编码的无人机放大转发中继通信传输方案,并基于双跳链路遍历容量最大化的准则给出了无人机最佳航迹规划方法,并进一步利用FM-EM算法给出了基于空时分组编码无人机中继通信系统的中断概率及遍历信道容量计算公式。计算机仿真表明:提出的方法显著优于传统的单发单收(SISO)无人机中继通信系统。     

A memetic algorithm for path planning of curvature-constrained UAVs performing surveillance of multiple ground targets

The problem of generating optimal paths for curvature-constrained unmanned aerial vehicles （UAVs） performing surveillance of multiple ground targets is addressed in this paper. UAVs are modeled as Dubins vehicles so that the constraints of UAVs＇ minimal turning radius can be taken into account. In view of the effective surveillance range of the sensors equipped on UAVs, the problem is formulated as a Dubins traveling salesman problem with neighborhood （DTSPN）. Considering its prohibitively high computational complexity, the Dubins paths in the sense of terminal heading relaxation are introduced to simplify the calculation of the Dubins distance, and a boundary-based encoding scheme is proposed to determine the visiting point of every target neighborhood. Then, an evolutionary algorithm is used to derive the optimal Dubins tour. To further enhance the quality of the solutions, a local search strategy based on approximate gradient is employed to improve the visiting points of target neighborhoods. Finally, by a minor modification to the individual encoding, the algorithm is easily extended to deal with other two more sophisticated DTSPN variants （multi-UAV scenario and multiple groups of targets scenario）. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated through comparative experiments with other two state-of-the-art DTSPN algorithms identified in literature. Numerical simulations exhibit that the algorithm proposed in this paper can find high-quality solutions to the DTSPN with lower computational cost and produce significantly improved performance over the other algorithms.     

基于改进A-Star算法的隐身无人机快速突防航路规划

针对现代战争中隐身无人机（UAV）在高严密的组网雷达防御体系下的生存及突防问题,提出了基于改进A-Star算法的隐身无人机战区突防航路规划技术。首先对隐身无人机突防过程进行了分析建模,分别建立了隐身无人机的运动学模型、动态雷达散射截面特性和组网雷达探测概率的计算模型。然后针对传统算法在解决隐身突防问题时的不足,充分考虑所规划航路时的快速性和安全性要求,设计了改进A-Star算法。在算法中引入了多层变步长搜索策略和无人机的姿态角信息,结合秩K融合准则,通过每段航迹上隐身无人机被组网雷达系统的发现概率来判断新航迹点的可行性。仿真结果表明,改进A-Star算法能够在复杂的组网雷达系统下快速生成更优的战区突防航路,具有一定的应用价值。     

Mobility control of unmanned aerial vehicle as communication relay in airborne multi-user systems

In this paper, a model-based adaptive mobility control method for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) acting as a communication relay is presented, which is intended to improve the network performance in airborne multi-user systems. The mobility control problem is addressed by jointly considering unknown Radio Frequency(RF) channel parameters, unknown multi-user mobility, and non-available Angle of Arrival(AoA) information of the received signal. A Kalman filter and a least-square-based estimation algorithm are used to predict the future user positions and estimate the RF channel parameters between the users and the UAV, respectively. Two different relay application cases are considered: end-to-end and multi-user communications. A line search algorithm is proposed for the former, with its stability given and proven, whereas a simplified gradient-based algorithm is proposed for the latter to provide a target relay position at each decision time step, decreasing the two-dimensional search to a one-dimensional search. Simulation results show that the proposed mobility control algorithms can drive the UAV to reach or track the optimal relay position movement, as well as improving network performance. The proposed method reflects the properties of using different metrics as objective network performance functions.     

Three-dimensional path planning for unmanned aerial vehicle based on interfered fluid dynamical system

This paper proposes a method for planning the three-dimensional path for low-flying unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) in complex terrain based on interfered fluid dynamical system(IFDS) and the theory of obstacle avoidance by the flowing stream. With no requirement of solutions to fluid equations under complex boundary conditions, the proposed method is suitable for situations with complex terrain and different shapes of obstacles. Firstly, by transforming the mountains, radar and anti-aircraft fire in complex terrain into cylindrical, conical, spherical, parallelepiped obstacles and their combinations, the 3D low-flying path planning problem is turned into solving streamlines for obstacle avoidance by fluid flow. Secondly, on the basis of a unified mathematical expression of typical obstacle shapes including sphere, cylinder, cone and parallelepiped, the modulation matrix for interfered fluid dynamical system is constructed and 3D streamlines around a single obstacle are obtained. Solutions to streamlines with multiple obstacles are then derived using weighted average of the velocity field. Thirdly, extra control force method and virtual obstacle method are proposed to deal with the stagnation point and the case of obstacles’ overlapping respectively. Finally, taking path length and flight height as sub-goals, genetic algorithm(GA) is used to obtain optimal 3D path under the maneuverability constraints of the UAV. Simulation results show that the environmental modeling is simple and the path is smooth and suitable for UAV. Theoretical proof is also presented to show that the proposed method has no effect on the characteristics of fluid avoiding obstacles.     

Proactive optimization of transmission power and 3D trajectory in UAV-assisted relay systems with mobile ground users

In this paper, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-assisted relay communication system is studied, where a UAV is served as a flying relay to maintain a communication link between a mobile source node and a remote destination node. Specifically, an average outage probability minimization problem is formulated firstly, with the constraints on the transmission power of the source node, the maximum energy consumption budget, the transmission power, the speed and acceleration of the flying UAV relay. Next, the closed-form of outage probability is derived, under the hybrid line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight probability channel model. To deal with the formulated nonconvex optimization, a long-term proactive optimization mechanism is developed. In particular, firstly, an approximation for line-of-sight probability and a reformulation of the primal problem are given, respectively. Then, the reformulated problem is transformed into two subproblems: one is the transmission power optimization with given UAV’s trajectory and the other is the trajectory optimization with given transmission power allocation. Next, two subproblems are tackled via tailoring primal–dual subgradient method and successive convex approximation, respectively. Furthermore, a proactive optimization algorithm is proposed to jointly optimize the transmission power allocation and the three-dimensional trajectory. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm under various parameter configurations.     

水下单信标导航航路规划和最优航路接近方法

相比于传统的长基线和超短基线等导航方式，水下单信标导航具有布放简单的优点，但其导航精度有待进一步提高。为此，提出了单信标导航的航路规划方案，通过泰勒级数展开推导了水平位置精度因子的表达式，并分析了导航点和声信标的相对几何位置关系对导航精度的影响，最终提出了航路规划方案。在此基础上，还提出了自主水下航行器(autonomous underwater vehicle，AUV)从其他位置接近最优航路的方法，包括两部分：一是建立以时延为观测量的滤波模型，利用滤波算法实时获取AUV的位置估计值；二是基于可观测度分析结果对最优航路接近过程的轨迹进行了设计。二者的结合使得AUV高效率且高精度地逼近最优航路。仿真证明了采用所提出的航路规划方案和最优航路接近方法可以提高导航精度，航路规划方案使得AUV位置估计的均方根误差近似为2 m。     

Exploring mission planning method for a team of carrier aircraft launching

High-level efficiency and safety are of great significance for improving the fighting capability of an aircraft carrier. One way to enhance efficiency and safety level is to organize the carrier aircraft into combat effectively. This paper studies the mission planning problem for a team of carrier aircraft launching, and a novel distributed mission planning architecture is proposed. The architecture is hierarchical and is comprised of four levels, namely, the input level, the coordination level,the path planning level and the execution level. Realistic constraints in each level of the distributed architecture, such as the vortex flow effect, the crowd effect and the motion of aircraft, are considered in the model. To solve this problem, a distributed path planning algorithm based on the asynchronous planning strategy is developed. The proposed Mission Planning Approach for Carrier Aircraft Launching(MPACAL) is validated using the setups of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.Compared to the isolated planning architecture and the centralized planning architecture, the proposed distributed planning architecture has advantages in coordinating the launch tasks not only belonging to the same catapult but also when all different catapults are considered. The proposed MPACAL provides a modeling method for the flight deck operation on aircraft carrier.     

固定翼无人机编队集结控制算法研究

针对固定翼无人机协同作战时的编队集结问题，提出了一种新的路径规划和位置分配方法，并设计了包括航迹跟踪、高度保持和速度控制在内的自动驾驶仪。该路径规划算法通过矩阵迭代得到一组较优的目标点分配方案，满足总航程较小和同时到达约束。根据得到的各无人机飞向目标点的航迹，算出无人机编队集结的代价矩阵。在每架无人机确定了应飞航路后，开始沿航路飞向目标点，在此过程中，纵向采用高度保持自动驾驶仪，横向采用航迹跟踪自动驾驶仪，控制无人机按规定航迹飞行。速度调节自动驾驶仪可根据速度指令调节油门大小加减速，跟踪上目标速度，进而实现编队集结。仿真结果验证了所提出的编队集结控制方法的有效性和可行性。     

A review on carrier aircraft dispatch path planning and control on deck

As an important part in sortie/recovery process, the dispatch of carrier aircraft not only affects the sortie/recovery efficiency and safety, but also has severe influence on the carrier’s combat efficiency and the comprehensive support capability. Path planning is the key to improve the efficiency and safety during the dispatch process. The main purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive investigation of techniques and research progress for the carrier aircraft’s dispatch path planning...     

Real-time trajectory planning for UCAV air-to-surface attack using inverse dynamics optimization method and receding horizon control

This paper presents a computationally efficient real-time trajectory planning framework for typical unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) performing autonomous air-to-surface (A/S) attack. It combines the benefits of inverse dynamics optimization method and receding horizon optimal control technique. Firstly, the ground attack trajectory planning problem is mathematically formulated as a receding horizon optimal control problem (RHC-OCP). In particular, an approximate elliptic launch acceptable region (LAR) model is proposed to model the critical weapon delivery constraints. Secondly, a planning algorithm based on inverse dynamics optimization, which has high computational efficiency and good convergence properties, is developed to solve the RHCOCP in real-time. Thirdly, in order to improve robustness and adaptivity in a dynamic and uncer- tain environment, a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) receding horizon control architecture is introduced and a regular real-time update strategy is proposed as well, and the real-time feedback can be achieved and the not-converged situations can be handled. Finally, numerical simulations demon- strate the efficiency of this framework, and the results also show that the presented technique is well suited for real-time implementation in dynamic and uncertain environment.     

A newly bio-inspired path planning algorithm for autonomous obstacle avoidance of UAV

In this paper, a bio-inspired path planning algorithm in 3D space is proposed. The algorithm imitates the basic mechanisms of plant growth, including phototropism, negative geotropism and branching. The algorithm proposed in this paper solves the dynamic obstacle avoidance path planning problem of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in the case of unknown environment maps. Compared with other path planning algorithms, the algorithm has the advantages of fast path planning speed and fewer route points, and can achieve the effect of low delay real-time path planning. The feasibility of the algorithm is verified in the Gazebo simulator based on the Robot Operating System (ROS) platform. Finally, an actual UAV autonomous obstacle avoidance path planning experimental platform is built, and a UAV obstacle avoidance path planning flight test is carried out based on this actual environment.     

Energy-efficient data collection for UAV-assisted IoT: Joint trajectory and resource optimization

Internet of Things (IoT) can be conveniently deployed while empowering various applications, where the IoT nodes can form clusters to finish certain missions collectively. As energy-efficient operations are critical to prolong the lifetime of the energy-constrained IoT devices, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) can be dispatched to geographically approach the IoT clusters towards energy-efficient IoT transmissions. This paper intends to maximize the system energy efficiency by considering both the IoT transmission energy and UAV propulsion energy, where the UAV trajectory and IoT communication resources are jointly optimized. By applying large-system analysis and Dinkelbach method, the original fractional optimization is approximated and reformulated in the form of subtraction, and further a block coordinate descent framework is employed to update the UAV trajectory and IoT communication resources iteratively. Extensive simulation results are provided to corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

无人机编队支撑网络的协同通信中继策略

针对无人机编队支撑网络优化选择中继成员进而提高编队协同通信能力问题,基于端到端技术（Device-to-Device,D2D）,提出了一种同时考虑无人机编队成员的邻近域及编队成员间的社会性依存关系来优化选择中继成员的中继策略,旨在既能保证无人机编队的基本通信能力,又能同时优化提高编队的吞吐量,从而进一步提升编队支撑网络的整体性能。研究结果表明,所提的无人机编队支撑网络中继成员优化选择策略在系统吞吐量方面较已有方法具有明显优势。     

频率选择性衰落信道DS-CDMA无人机中继通信系统航迹规划

无人机中继通信是实现远距离无线通信的一种重要技术手段,无人机的飞行航迹对无人机中继通信系统的链路传输可靠性存在显著的影响,在频率选择性衰落信道环境下研究了基于直序列码分多址（DS-CDMA）的无人机中继通信系统的航迹优化的问题。首先,给出了基于DS-CDMA的译码转发无人机中继通信系统的模型,并理论分析给出无人机中继通信系统的链路中断概率及平均误码率计算公式,以此为基础,基于链路中断概率最小化准则提出了中继无人机的航迹规划方法,最后通过仿真验证了所提出方法的正确性与有效性。研究表明：最大比值合并DS-CDMA无人机中继通信系统可充分获取频率选择性衰落信道提供的分集增益,显著改善链路传输的可靠性。     

一种基于多无人机的中继节点布置问题建模与优化方法

针对战场环境下急需在无法通信的节点间构建有效通信链路的情形,使用多无人机作为中继节点,建立了中继节点布置(RNP)问题模型。模型以中继链路有效和无人机安全为约束,以中继布置点位置及相应的无人机为输出,不但考虑了使用的中继无人机数量,还考虑了构建中继链路花费的时间。考虑到该问题是难以求解的混合整数多目标优化问题,同时在紧急应用情形下,要求求解算法快速有效,建立了一种多项式时间中继节点布置算法(PTRPA)。仿真实验验证了所提模型确实能够在更短的时间内完成有效中继链路构建;通过Monte-Carlo方法对比和分析不同因素对PTRPA算法、随机抽样算法、遗传算法求解该问题的结果性能和时间性能的影响,验证了PTRPA算法不但能够给出接近最优的解,且快速有效,满足战场决策需求。     

Topology tracking of dynamic UAV wireless networks

Wireless network is the communication foundation that supports the intelligentization of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) swarm. The topology of UAV communication network is the key to understanding and analyzing the behavior of UAV swarm, thus supporting the further prediction of UAV operations. However, the UAV swarm network topology varies over time due to the high mobility and diversified mission requirements of UAVs. Therefore, it is important but challenging to research dynamic topology infere...     

翼身融合无人机外形优化设计研究

翼身融合布局无人机具有较好的升阻特性和隐身特性,拥有广泛的应用前景。为了提高无人机的续航能力,兼顾翼身融合无人机的气动特性和结构重量要求,选择无人机升阻比与全机面积作为优化目标,应用多目标优化方法研究翼身融合无人机的外形设计,提出一种针对翼身融合无人机的外形参数化优化设计方法,并进行实例验证。结果表明:外形优化可以提高无人机升阻比、减轻结构重量,从而获得合理的翼身融合无人机设计方案。