PATH PLANNING OF MICRO AIR VEHICLE IN STATIC ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Path planning or motion planning is a fundamental aspect of autonomous vehicle navigation. An important problem in the design of miniature air vehicles (MAVs) is obstacle avoidance. In this research, path planning of micro air vehicle (MAV) in static environment is carried out, keeping in view that MAV has the global knowledge of its environment i.e. terrain map is pre-loaded in it. Path Planning involves the computation of a collision free path from start to goal point without considering robot dynamics and kinematic constraints like max velocity, max turn angle etc. Static environment means that target and obstacles which encountered during flight will be fixed. We design an optimal and power efficient path planner for path planning of micro air vehicle in static environment having multiple obstacles (circles in 2D & spheres in 3D). Optimal path means a path with minimum path length. Power efficient path means it has minimum number of turn points on its way towards the goal, as with each waypoint actuator is switched on & off which consumes the vehicle battery power. We further refined our path in order to get more optimal results keeping in view that we do not have to compromise on its power efficiency.