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Experimentation and Simulation with Autonomous Coverage Path Planning for UAVs

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Abstract

UAVs have been widely used in many photography applications. Among photography tasks, covering an area to produce photogrammetry data is a prominent solution for commercial applications. The resources available to automate these processes, despite the many advances, still are somewhat scarce for practical deployment. In this research, the authors intend to bridge this gap by evaluating several simulated and real 3D models. The methods evaluated are also compared with current commercially available planners and the literature state of the art. The research uses seven heuristics methods to generate camera placement, another seven methods to generate offline planning, and seven methods to perform path planning. The tests include synthetic data for statistical significance, real 3D models, and simulations that allow a complete performance overview. Quantitative results will enable the user to visualize each method’s performance, while qualitative results will help to understand the results visually. Results are compiled in a path planning library for further research and development. They show that some methods can be 15% more cost-effective while being able to be still computed in a reasonable amount of time.

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Code Availability

The codes and information used will be made available in a github (https://github.com/IagoBiundini) in the future.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following Brazilian Federal Agencies UFJF, CEFET-RJ, CAPES, CNPq, FAPERJ, INCT–INERGE, ANEEL P&D Program and INESC Brazil for supporting this research.

Funding

The authors would like to thank the following Brazilian Federal Agencies UFJF, CEFET-RJ, CAPES, CNPq, FAPERJ, INCT–INERGE, ANEEL P&D Program and INESC Brazil for supporting this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil

    Iago Z. Biundini, Aurelio G. Melo, Fabrício O. Coelho, Leonardo M. Honório & André L. M. Marcato

  2. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Milena Faria Pinto

Authors
  1. Iago Z. Biundini
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  2. Aurelio G. Melo
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  3. Fabrício O. Coelho
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  4. Leonardo M. Honório
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  5. André L. M. Marcato
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  6. Milena Faria Pinto
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Iago Z. Biundini, Aurélio G. Melo, Fabricio O. Coelho and Milena F. Pinto. The supervision and resources were performed by Leonardo M. Honório, Milena F. Pinto, and André L. M. Marcato; The first draft of the manuscript was written by Iago Z. Biundini, Aurélio G. Melo and Milena F. Pinto all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Iago Z. Biundini.

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Biundini, I.Z., Melo, A.G., Coelho, F.O. et al. Experimentation and Simulation with Autonomous Coverage Path Planning for UAVs. J Intell Robot Syst 105, 46 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-022-01654-9

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