Hybrid FWPS cooperation algorithm based unmanned aerial vehicle constrained path planning

This paper considers the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) global path planning as an optimization problem with multiple constraints and proposes an improved fireworks algorithm (FWA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) cooperation algorithm to generate an optimal path. The objective function of the UAV flight path is modeled to have the shortest length satisfying strict multiple threat area constraints. The α constrained method using the level comparison strategy is integrated into both FWA and PSO to enhance their superior constraint-handling ability. To increase the population diversity, the whole population is divided to fireworks and particles, which perform search operation in parallel. A new mutation strategy in the fireworks is adopted to avoid falling into the local optimum. Information sharing mechanism between fireworks and particles is established to make the population achieve the excellent global optimization performance. Several numerical simulations are carried out and the results show that our proposed algorithm performs well in obtaining high quality solutions and handling constraints.