Path planning in a two-dimensional environment

This paper presents a path planning algorithm that is part of the STESCA control architecture for autonomous vehicles. The path planning algorithm models an autonomous vehicle's path as a series of line segments in Cartesian space and compares each line segment to a list of known obstacles and hazardous areas to determine if any collisions or hindrances exist. In the event of a detected collision, the algorithm selects a point outside the obstacle or hazardous area, generates two new path segments that avoid the obstruction and recursively checks the new paths for other collisions. Once underway; if the autonomous vehicle encounters previously unknown obstacles or hazardous areas, the path planner operates in a run-time mode that decides how to re-route the path around the obstacle or abort. This paper describes the path planner along with examples of path planning in a two-dimensional environment with a wheeled land-based robotic vehicle.