This paper presents a path planner for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) based on evolutionary algorithms (EAs) for realistic scenarios. The paths returned by the algorithm fulfill and optimize multiple criteria that 1) are calculated based on the properties of real UAVs, terrains, radars, and missiles and 2) are structured in different levels of priority according to the selected mission. The paths of all the UAVs are obtained with the multiple coordinated agents coevolution EA (MCACEA), which is a general framework that uses an EA per agent (i.e., UAV) that share their optimal solutions to coordinate the evolutions of the EAs populations using cooperation objectives. This planner works offline and online by means of recalculating parts of the original path to avoid unexpected risks while the UAV is flying. Its search space and computation time have been reduced using some special operators in the EAs. The successful results of the paths obtained in multiple scenarios, which are statistically analyzed in the paper, and tested against a simulator that incorporates complex models of the UAVs, radars, and missiles, make us believe that this planner could be used for real-flight missions.Index Terms-Aerial robotics, multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (EAs), path planning for multiple mobile robot systems.
I. INTRODUCTIONU NMANNED aerial vehicles (UAVs) are aircrafts without onboard pilots that can be remotely controlled or can fly autonomously based on preprogrammed flight plans [1]. The autonomy level achieved by the UAVs depends on the methodology used to control the vehicle and to generate its routes. Although both tasks are equally important (and become especially Manuscript
This paper proposes a Bayesian approach for minimizing the time of finding an object of uncertain location and dynamics using several moving sensing agents with constrained dynamics. The approach exploits twice the Bayesian theory: on one hand, it uses a Bayesian formulation of the objective functions that compare the constrained paths of the agents and on the other hand, a Bayesian optimization algorithm to solve the problem. By combining both elements, our approach handles successfully this complex problem, as illustrated by the results over different scenarios presented and statistically analyzed in the paper. Finally, the paper also discusses other formulations of the problem and compares the properties of our approach with others closely related.
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