Route planning for underwater terrain matching trial based on particle swarm optimization

Digital maps are the basis of underwater terrain matching trial. Underwater digital map cartography requires a large sum of finance to support a wide topographic survey which is also time-consuming. For the reason, a robust route planning method for limited water areas is necessary. This article proposes a practical route planning method for underwater terrain matching trial. Firstly, Route planning method using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is introduced. Then the terrain entropy of digital map should be calculated so as to obtain the topographic distribution information. The edges of low entropy regions, which were used to determine the obstacle regions in the digital map, were obtained by using the method of two-dimensional wavelet transform. Trial route were planned based on the PSO method with the constraints of the vehicle and equipment performances. Finally, a terrain matching simulation was implemented along with the planned route which proved the feasibility of the planning method.