Abstract
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with downward-facing, low-cost cameras can be used for terrain mapping. Using a photogrammetric technique, structure from motion, one can create accurate models for less cost than current methods. During mapping, images at certain locations (points of interest (POIs) need to be taken from specified directions due to environmental conditions. As the area that needs to be mapped increases the number of POIs increase. Therefore, we need a route planning algorithm that can determine efficient paths taking kinematic constraints of the vehicle and the angle of arrival at the POIs into account. To determine an efficient solution, we cast the routing problem as a Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) with angular constraints, and develop two new solutions based on multi-lookahead and multi-neighbor strategies. Simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of the algorithms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Savla, K., Frazzoli, E., Bullo, F.: Traveling salesperson problems for the Dubins vehicle. IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr. 53(6), 1378–1391 (2008)
Bellman, R.: Dynamic programming treatment of the traveling salesman problem. J. Assoc. Comput. Mach. 9, 61–63 (1962)
Dubins, L.E.: On curves of minimal length with a constraint on average curvature and with prescribed initial and terminal positions and tangents. Am. J. Math. 79, 497–516 (1957)
Ny, J.L., Razzoli, E., Feron, E.: The curvature-constrained traveling salesman problem for high point densities. In: Proc. of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 5985–5990. New Orleans, Louisiana (2007)
Macharet, D.G., Neto, A.A., Neto, V.F.C., Campos, M.F.M.: Nonholonomic path planning optimization for Dubins’ vehicles. In: Prof. of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 4208–4213. Shanghai, China (2011)
Ma, X., Castanon, D.A.: Receding horizon planning for Dubins traveling salesman problems. In: Proc. of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 5453–5458. San Diego, CA (2006)
Rathinam, S., Sengupta, R., Darbha, S.: A resource allocation algorithm for multivehicle systems with nonholonomic constraints. IEEE Trans. Auto. Sc and Engg. 4(1), 98–104 (2007)
Koenderink, J., Van Doorn, A.: Affine structure from motion. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 8(2), 377–385 (1991)
Dumitrescu, A., Mitchell, J.S.B.: Approximation algorithms for tsp with neighborhoods in the plane. J. Algorithms 48(1), 135–159 (2003)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sujit, P.B., Hudzietz, B.P. & Saripalli, S. Route Planning for Angle Constrained Terrain Mapping Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. J Intell Robot Syst 69, 273–283 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-012-9729-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-012-9729-y