Trajectory Planner for UAVs Based on Potential Field Obtained by a Kinodynamic Gene Regulation Network

Sensors (Basel). 2023 Sep 20;23(18):7982. doi: 10.3390/s23187982.

Abstract

Quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) often encounter intricate environmental and dynamic limitations in real-world applications, underscoring the significance of proficient trajectory planning for ensuring both safety and efficiency during flights. To tackle this challenge, we introduce an innovative approach that harmonizes sophisticated environmental insights with the dynamic state of a UAV within a potential field framework. Our proposition entails a quadrotor trajectory planner grounded in a kinodynamic gene regulation network potential field. The pivotal contribution of this study lies in the amalgamation of environmental perceptions and kinodynamic constraints within a newly devised gene regulation network (GRN) potential field. By enhancing the gene regulation network model, the potential field becomes adaptable to the UAV's dynamic conditions and its surroundings, thereby extending the GRN into a kinodynamic GRN (K-GRN). The trajectory planner excels at charting courses that guide the quadrotor UAV through intricate environments while taking dynamic constraints into account. The amalgamation of environmental insights and kinodynamic constraints within the potential field framework bolsters the adaptability and stability of the generated trajectories. Empirical results substantiate the efficacy of our proposed methodology.

Keywords: environmental perception; gene regulation network; kinodynamic constraints; potential field; trajectory planning.

MeSH terms

  • Unmanned Aerial Devices*

Grants and funding

This research was supported in part by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2021ZD0111501, 2021ZD0111502), the Key Laboratory of Digital Signal and Image Processing of Guangdong Province, the Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology (Shantou University), Ministry of Education, the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province of China (grant number 180917144960530), the Project of Educational Commission of Guangdong Province of China (grant number 2017KZDXM032), the State Key Lab of Digital Manufacturing Equipment & Technology (grant number DMETKF2019020), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 62176147), STU Scientific Research Foundation for Talents (grant number NTF21001), Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province of China (grant number 2019A050520001, 2021A0505030072, 2022A1515110660), Science and Technology Special Funds Project of Guangdong Province of China (grant number STKJ2021176, STKJ2021019), and Guangdong Special Support Program for Outstanding Talents (2021JC06X549).