Journal of Aeronautical Engineering

Journal of Aeronautical Engineering

Designing the rapidly exploring random tree path planning algorithm for the vertical take-off and landing vehicle on the processor-in-the-loop test platform

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Ehsan Taheri
Malek Ashtar University of Technology (MUT)
10.22034/joae.2021.139479
Abstract
Path design is one of the open research bottlenecks to develop autonomy in unmanned robots. In urban spaces and closed environments, with increasing the number of obstacles and constraints, the computational complexity required for the completed path planning algorithms increases with order O (n2). The main purpose of this manuscript is to present a path planning algorithm based on the random sampling method for the vertical take-off and landing vehicle (VTLV) and its real-time test in the xPC-Target toolboxes. For this purpose, the rapidly exploring random tree (RRT) algorithm is presented. The proposed algorithm is completely probabilistic and also the non-holonomic constraints of the VTLV are integrated into the vertices of the search tree. In order to validate and evaluate the proposed path planning algorithm before performing risky and costly field tests, the processor-in-the-loop (PIL) test, in MATLAB xPC-Target software environment is considered. In the PIL test, two test scenarios with different complexity have been developed. The results show that the proposed rapidly exploring random tree algorithm is able to plan a primary path for the robot by using its random nature in a rapid manner. Also, due to the involvement of the robot dynamic model in the process of generating random vertices and search tree edges, both types of kinematic and dynamic (kinodynamic) constraints have been considered in the planned path and therefore lead to the design of a practical path with high intercept ability through the robot.
Keywords
Path Planning
Rapidly Exploring Random Tree (RRT)
Kinodynamic
Vertical Take-Off and Landing Vehicle (VTLV)
Processor-in-the-Loop (PIL)
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Journal of Aeronautical Engineering
Volume 23, Issue 1
June 2021
Pages 86-96

  • Receive Date 06 September 2021
  • Revise Date 15 October 2021
  • Accept Date 30 October 2021