A 3D collision avoidance strategy for UAV with physical constraints

The main goal of this research effort is to find a flyable collision-free path for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a dynamic environment. Given that the UAV path planning needs to adapt in near real-time to the dynamic nature of the operational scenario, and to react rapidly to updates in the situational awareness, a modified artificial potential field (MAPF) approach is utilized to provide collision avoidance in view of pop-up threats and a random set of moving obstacles. To ensure a practically reachable trajectory, this paper proposes a constraint reference frame to develop MAPF so that the decomposed forces from MAPF can be matched with the physical constraints of the UAV for online adjustment. Simulations and experimental results provide promising validation in terms of the efficiency and scalability of the proposed approach. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.