多无人机空中加油的最优会合航路规划

为了空中加油能面向多架无人机,本文提出了空中加油的三维最优会合航路规划算法.多架无人机分布在不同区域,需要加油机沿预定的规划航路飞行会合,以完成空中加油任务.由于加油机可同时服务的受油机数量有限,需要寻找最优分配策略将无人机预分配至不同加油区域与之会合.本文首先根据加、受油机在各加油区域的最短会合时间,将最优分配问题建模为整数线性规划问题,求解得到加油机与各无人机的最优会合点.随后,本文提出了三维空间Dubins路径延长算法,保证各无人机按照分配结果与加油机同时到达会合点.最后,分别针对二维和三维多架无人机空中加油任务进行仿真.仿真结果表明本文提出的最优会合航路规划算法得到的Dubins航路,可以保证空中加油会合任务在最短时间内完成.

Optimal rendezvous path planning for multiple unmanned aerial vehicle on air refueling

To air-refuel multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by a refueling vehicle, we propose a 3-dimensionaloptimal rendezvous-path planning strategy for the refueling vehicle. Since UAVs are distributed in space, the refuelingvehicle has to fly along a pre-planned flight path to rendezvous with the UAV for executing the refueling. Because onlya limited number of UAV may be refueled simultaneously by a refueling vehicle, an optimal allocation strategy has to befound for assigning the proper refueling area and the proper time to each UAV for rendezvous. This allocation problem isformulated as an integer linear programming problem according to the shortest rendezvous time required by each UAV inits refueling area. By solving this problem, we obtain the optimal rendezvous point of refueling for each UAV. Next, weemploy the 3D Dubins elongation algorithm to ensure every UAV to rendezvous with the fueling vehicle at the assignedallocation point. Simulations of air-refueling on multiple UAVs in 2D and 3D spaces are performed. Results show that theDubins path obtained by the optimal rendezvous path planning strategy guarantees multiple UAVs to complete rendezvousand air refueling in the shortest time interval.