A Hybrid Approach for Autonomous Collision-Free UAV Navigation in 3D Partially Unknown Dynamic Environments

Abstract

In the past decades, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have emerged in a wide range of applications. Owing to the advances in UAV technologies related to sensing, computing, power, etc., it has become possible to carry out missions autonomously. A key component to achieving this goal is the development of safe navigation methods, which is the main focus of this work. A hybrid navigation approach is proposed to allow safe autonomous operations in three-dimensional (3D) partially unknown and dynamic environments. This method combines a global path planning algorithm, namely RRT-Connect, with a reactive control law based on sliding mode control to provide quick reflex-like reactions to newly detected obstacles. The performance of the suggested approach is validated using simulations.