Efficient Path Generation Method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle via Multiple Waypoints

The Sequential Multiple Waypoints Dubins Problem (SMWDP) is planning a shortest path for a fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) via a series of sequential waypoints. Given the coordinates of waypoints for the starting and ending waypoints with headings, the objective is optimizing the headings of the intermediate waypoints to minimize the length of flying path. To simplify the complexity of the global optimization problem, we first study the scene with one intermediate waypoint. By the simplifying situation, the angular ranges at intermediate waypoints are definite. Moreover, an initial sub-optimal solution of global optimization problem is established. We apply discrete methods to disperse the angles of intermediate waypoints, and use the local search algorithm to optimize the initial sub-optimal solution. Based on the initial sub-optimal solution, our algorithm converges quickly and guarantees the quality of the solution. We compare our method with traditional and discrete method, respectively. The simulation results show that our method is more effective in terms of the quality and running time.