Simulation-aided path planning of UAV

The problem of path planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) with a tracking mission, when some a priori information about the targets and the environment is available can in some cases be addressed using simulation. Sequential Monte Carlo Simulation can be used to assess the state of the system and target when the UAV reaches the area of responsibility and during the tracking task. This assessment of the future is then used to compare the impact of choosing different alternative paths on the expected value of the detection time. A path with a lower expected value of detection time is preferred. In this paper the details of this method is described. Simulations are performed by a special purpose simulation tool to show the feasibility of this method and compare it with an exhaustive search.