UAV path planning in mixed-obstacle environment via artificial potential field method improved by additional control force

This paper deals with a UAV path planning problem in the environment where both solid obstacles and soft obstacles exist. The artificial potential field approach is updated by introducing an additional control force and integrating it with the concept of receding horizon control for UAV trajectory optimization. The original problem is converted into a multi-objective optimization problem by regarding the involved additional control term as the optimization variable. Seeing as the establishment of an additional control force of soft obstacles is dependent on the probability of certain specifications such as survivability, the additional control term accomplishes the description of the specified property index better than those that have been considered in the past, such as distance and control energy. The optimal solution to the path planning problem, in terms of the additional control force method, and the computational efficiency according to the receding horizon control, both contribute to the proposed algorithm. Meanwhile, the proposed method is able to protect the UAV from local minima of additional control force. The numerical examples verify the advantages of this approach.