Time-minimal path planning in dynamic current fields

Numerous approaches have been proposed for path planning in dynamic current fields, for a fixed departure time. However, in many applications, the departure time is not necessarily known in advance, but can vary in a time window. In this context, the choice of a good departure time is a critical issue. That is why we introduce in this paper a new approach, called symbolic wavefront expansion, determining both the path and the departure time minimizing the travel time of the vehicle. The key idea of this approach is to propagate and compose functions instead of numerical values, with appropriate operators.

Authors

• Michaël Soulignac
• Patrick Taillibert
• Michel Rueher

Keywords

• Path planning
• Unmanned aerial vehicles
• Vehicle dynamics
• Remotely operated vehicles
• Aerodynamics
• Intelligent vehicles
• Underwater vehicles
• Mobile robots
• Cost function
• Algorithm design and analysis
• Time Window
• Numerical Values
• Travel Time
• Departure Time
• Function Of Time
• Communication Network
• Time Complexity
• Autonomous Vehicles
• Constant Function
• Destination Point
• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
• Numerical Operations