IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 37
Credit: Image licensed by Ingram Publishing
create a formation composed of three UAVs and also
explains how this formation is able to adapt to the environment with respect to the ground. In the next section, we
address the path planning with flight-level constraint is
addressed. We then present and discuss results from two
cases of application: formation performance with and
without flight-level constraint. Finally, the main conclusions of the work are outlined and guidance for future
work provided.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
PROBLEM STATEMENT
In this section, the problem statement is divided in two
different issues: First of all, the environment where the
path planning is carried out is described; later, the mission
for the UAVs formation is described.
ENVIRONMENT
The 3-D environment where the path planning for
UAVs formation is carried out is represented in
Figure 1. The left part of the figure represents an open
field with mountainous terrain, where the surface is
rather uneven. The 3-D grid map has a dimension of
120 Â 90 Â 40 cells, where each cell of the map is
equivalent to 15 Â 15 Â 15 m. It is not necessary to
consider the sizes of the UAVs, since it is assumed to
be smaller than the size of a cell. On the other hand,
the right part of the figure represents the frontal view
of the environment, where two lateral mountains are
appreciated. These two mountains form a fissure,
which will be crossed by the UAVs formation.
MISSION FOR THE UAVS FORMATION
The mission presented requires a UAVs formation moving
throughout an open field, avoiding any obstacle in the terrain. There are several types of formations; however, this
article focuses on a leader-followers formation. That is,
the trajectory is calculated for a single UAV (leader),
which flies from a start position to a goal position, being
the head of the formation, and rest of the UAVs
(followers) follow the leader respecting several geometrical relations. The formation in this article is formed by
three UAVs that compose a triangular shape among them.
The formation will avoid any obstacle in the environment,
deforming and adapting the path to its characteristics, and
also taking into account the rest of the UAVs of the
formation.
The approach implemented to find the trajectory for the
leader and its followers is based on our FM2 approach. The
method to achieve a restriction in flight level is implemented
here, keeping the leader with a fixed flight level with respect
to the ground. This entire process is explained in the following sections.
Figure 1.
The left side of the image shows the 3-D simulated representation of the open field environment. The right side shows the front view of the
environment.
MAY 2020
IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
37
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020
Contents
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - Cover1
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - Cover2
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - Contents
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 2
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 3
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 4
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 5
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 6
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 7
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 8
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 9
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 10
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 11
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 12
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 13
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 14
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 15
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 16
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 17
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 18
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 19
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 20
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 21
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 22
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 23
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 24
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 25
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 26
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 27
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 28
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 29
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 30
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 31
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 32
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 33
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 34
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 35
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 36
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 37
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 38
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 39
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 40
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 41
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 42
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 43
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 44
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 45
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 46
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 47
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 48
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 49
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 50
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 51
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - 52
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - Cover3
IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2020 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_december2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_november2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_october2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_september2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_august2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_july2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_june2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_may2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_april2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_march2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_february2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_january2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_december2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_november2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_october2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_september2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_august2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_july2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_june2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_may2022_tutorial
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_may2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_april2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_march2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_february2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_january2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_december2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_november2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_october2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_september2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_august2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_july2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_june2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_may2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_april2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_march2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_march2021_tutorials
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_february2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_january2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_november2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_december2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_october2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_september2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_august2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_july2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_june2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_may2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_april2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_march2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_february2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_january2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_december2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_october2019partII
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_november2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_october2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_july2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_september2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_august2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_june2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_april2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_may2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_march2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_december2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_august2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_october2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_september2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/aerospace_november2018
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com