Interactive UAS Path Planning Using Particle Swarm Optimization and Flight Mechanics

Military engagements are continuing the movement toward automated and unmanned vehicles for a variety of military tasks. One important piece of automating is the ability to perform path planning quickly, safely, and reliably for unmanned aerial systems (UASs). Path planners often ignore the UAS’s ability to perform the maneuvers necessary to fly through the specified waypoints, instead relying on them to fly as close as possible. To date, path planning algorithms have been limited to providing only a single solution without input from an operator. This project attempts to incorporate operator experience in the path planning process. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) allows the generation of multiple optimized three-dimensional flight paths for the operator to choose from. This paper improves upon a previously developed method by incorporating flight mechanics equations into the optimization problem formulation. The new problem formulation ensures that the returned flight paths do not violate maximum load factor (G-force), minimum velocity (stall velocity), or the minimum turning radius.