A Fusion Approach for UAV Onboard Flight Trajectory Management and Decision Making Based on the Combination of Enhanced A* Algorithm and Quadratic Programming

Abstract

The rapid advancement of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies has led to an increasing demand for UAV operations in low-altitude, high-density, and complex airspace such as mountains or urban areas. In order to handle complex scenarios and ensure flight safety for UAVs with different flight missions beyond visual line of sight in such environments, a fusion framework of onboard autonomous flight trajectory management and decision-making system using global strategical path planning and local tactical trajectory optimization combination is proposed in this paper. The global strategical path planning is implemented by an enhanced A* algorithm under the multi-constraint of UAV positioning uncertainty and obstacle density to improve the safety and cost-effectiveness. The local tactical trajectory optimization is realized using quadratic programming to ensure smoothness, kinematic feasibility, and obstacle avoidance of the planned trajectory in dynamic environments. Receding-horizon control is used to ensure the flight path and trajectory planning efficiently and seamlessly. To assess the performance of the system, a terrain database and a navigation system are employed for environment and navigation performance simulation. The experimental results confirm that the fusion approach can realize better safety and cost-effectiveness through path planning with kino-dynamic feasible trajectory optimization.