Fast 3D Path Pre-Planning Method for UAVs

Path pre-planning generate the feasible conference path between start and destination for UAVs, it relates to restrictions from UAVs itself and environment information. Generally, the path is produced by searching in configuration space with some intelligent searching algorithms, the space is always so huge that it is difficult to obtain high efficiency, even lead to NP hard. We proposed a fast 3D path pre-planning method which plan 2D path firstly and then process height planning based on obtained 2D path, considering typical constraints such as turning angle, climbing/diving angle and static threat avoidance. Fast Marching Method (FMM) and Sparse A-Star (SAS) searching method are used in the course of 2D path planning and height planning respectively, Experiments showed that the proposed method generates path quickly, the obtained path follows terrain and avoids obstacles well.