Autonomous nap-of-the-earth (ANOE) flight path planning for manned and unmanned rotorcraft

Issue
 Date
Publication Date
Patent No.
10,347,139
Category
Algorithm and Method

A flight path planning approach may be deterministic and guarantee a safe, quasi-optimal path. A plurality of three-dimensional voxels may be determined as cells of a rectangular grid. The cells may have a predetermined length and width. A shortest safe path through the grid graph may be calculated from a local start to a local goal defined as points on a nominal global path. Geometric smoothing may be performed on the basis line from the local start to the local goal to generate a smooth three-dimensional trajectory that can be followed by a given rotorcraft. Dynamic smoothing may be performed on the three-dimensional trajectory to provide a maximum possible speed profile over a path defined by the dynamic smoothing. The three dimensional path information may be provided to an autopilot, which may then control the rotorcraft to fly along the defined path.

Keywords: flight path
International Class: G08G 5/00 (20060101), G05D 1/04 (20060101), G05D 1/10 (20060101), G01C 21/20 (20060101), G05D 1/08 (20060101), G05D 1/06 (20060101), G08G 5/04 (20060101)