Reactive Path Planning for 3-D Autonomous Vehicles

This brief deals with the problem of path planning for 3-D vehicles. The problem is simplified by resolving the workspace into horizontal and vertical planes. The flight path angle and the heading angle are linear functions of the visibility line angles in the vertical and horizontal planes, respectively. Other terms for the deviation and heading regulation are added to the navigation law. The navigation law has two navigation proportionality factors and two deviation parameters corresponding to the horizontal and vertical planes. The method has the ability to generate non-straight paths to the goal. Obstacles and dangerous zones are avoided by correcting the path by changing the values of the parameters. The dynamic constraints are transformed to a restriction in the navigation parameters´ space. Our results are illustrated using simulation.