This paper presents an end-to-end solution to the battlefield scenario where M unmanned air vehicles are assigned to strike N known targets, in the presence of dynamic threats. The problem is decomposed into the subproblems of (1) cooperative target assignment, (2) coordinated UAV intercept, (3) path planning, and (4) feasible trajectory generation. The design technique is based on a hierarchical approach to coordinated control. Detailed simulation results are presented.

Autonomous unmanned air vehicle flight control systems require robust path generation to account for terrain obstructions, weather, and moving threats such as radar, jammers, and unfriendly aircraft. In this paper, we outline a feasible, hierarchal approach for real-time motion planning of small autonomous fixed-wing UAVs. The approach divides the trajectory generation into four tasks: waypoint path planning, dynamic trajectory smoothing, trajectory tracking, and low-level autopilot compensation. The waypoint path planner determines the vehicle 's route without regard for the dynamic constraints of the vehicle. This results in a significant reduction in the path search space, enabling the generation of complicated paths that account for pop-up and dynamically moving threats. Kinematic constraints are satisfied using a trajectory smoother which has the same kinematic structure as the physical vehicle. The third step of the approach uses a novel tracking algorithm to generate a feasible state trajectory that can be followed by a standard autopilot. Monte-Carlo simulations were done to analyze the performance and feasibility of the approach and determine real-time computation requirements. A planar version of the algorithm has also been implemented and tested in a low-cost micro-controller. The paper describes a custom UAV built to test the algorithms.

Abstract not found

Abstract not found

Since differential constraints which restrict admissible velocities and accelerations of robotic systems are ignored in path planning, solutions for kinodynamic and non-holonomic planning problems from classical methods could be either inexecutable or inefficient. Motion planning with differential constraints (MPD), which directly considers differential constraints, provides a promising direction to calculate reliable and efficient solutions. A large amount of recent efforts have been devoted to various sampling-based MPD algorithms, which iteratively build search graphs using sam-pled states and controls. This thesis addresses several issues in analysis and design of these algorithms. Firstly, resolution completeness of path planning is extended to MPD and the first quantitative conditions are provided. The analysis is based on the relationship between the reachability graph, which is an intrinsic graph representation of a given problem, and the search graph, which is built by the algorithm. Because of sampling and other complications, there exist mismatches between these two graphs. If a solution exists in the reachability graph, resolution complete algorithms must con-struct a solution path encoding the solution or its approximation in the search graph

Abstract. This paper summarizes our recent development of algorithms that construct feasible trajectories for problems that involve both differential constraints (typically in the form of an underactuated nonlinear system), and global constraints (typically arising from robot collisions). Dynamic programming approaches are described that produce approximately-optimal solutions for low-dimensional problems. Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (RRT) approaches are described that can find feasible, non-optimal solutions for higher-dimensional problems. Several key issues for future research are discussed. 1

Abstract We present our current progress on the design and experimentation with trajectory planning and optimization algorithms for nonlinear systems that have significant state-space constraints. An overview of our planning method based on Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRTs) is given. We show our current planning results for two challenging sets of nonlinear systems: 1) the determination of automobile trajectories through obstacle courses; 2) the design of re-entry trajectories for a reusable launch vehicle model based on the NASA X33 prototype. We also briefly describe some early results on using randomization to optimize trajectories in the presence of state space constraints. 1