Fast 3D route planning method for small UAV

In order to solve the problem that the route planning of the small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can hardly satisfy the constraint of itself and the requirements of the real-time planning, the threats in the environment are separated into passable threats and impassable threats. Based on the sequential programming, a reference route is planned using particle swarm optimization and a real-time route is planned using the modified sparse A^* algorithm. To improve the efficiency of the route planning, 3D route planning is transformed into 2D horizontal route planning and height planning. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method could obtain a feasible 3D route, and the planning time is highly reduced.