A Hybrid Path Planning Method in Unmanned Air/Ground Vehicle (UAV/UGV) Cooperative Systems

In this paper, we study the automatic ground map building and efficient path planning in unmanned aerial/ground vehicle (UAV/UGV) cooperative systems. Using the UAV, a ground image can be obtained from the aerial vision, which is then processed with image denoising, image correction, and obstacle recognition to construct the ground map automatically. Image correction is used to help the UGV improve the recognition accuracy of obstacles. Based on the constructed ground map, a hybrid path planning algorithm is proposed to optimize the planned path. A genetic algorithm is used for global path planning, and a local rolling optimization is used to constantly optimize the results of the genetic algorithm. Experiments are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed schemes. The evaluation results show that our proposed approach can obtain a much less costly path compared to the traditional path planning algorithms such as the genetic algorithm and the A-star algorithm and can run in real-time to support the UAV/UGV systems.

[1]  Nabil Aouf,et al.  Robust feature extraction and correspondence for UAV map building , 2009, 2009 17th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation.

[2]  Christopher G. Harris,et al.  A Combined Corner and Edge Detector , 1988, Alvey Vision Conference.

[3]  J. Andrew Bangham,et al.  Multiscale median and morphological filters for 2D pattern recognition , 1994, Signal Process..

[4]  Qingfu Zhang,et al.  Global path planning of wheeled robots using multi-objective memetic algorithms , 2015, Integr. Comput. Aided Eng..

[5]  Ryan M. Eustice,et al.  Real-Time Visual SLAM for Autonomous Underwater Hull Inspection Using Visual Saliency , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[6]  Haibin Duan,et al.  Unmanned air/ground vehicles heterogeneous cooperative techniques: Current status and prospects , 2010 .

[7]  Juan Andrade-Cetto,et al.  Information-Based Compact Pose SLAM , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[8]  Athanasios V. Vasilakos,et al.  Physarum Optimization: A Biology-Inspired Algorithm for the Steiner Tree Problem in Networks , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Computers.

[9]  Jiang Dapeng.  Analysis of data association methods of SLAM , 2010 .

[10]  Zhihuo Xu,et al.  Image denoising algorithm based on the median morphological filter , 2008, 2008 7th World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation.

[11]  Jake K. Aggarwal,et al.  A simple calibration procedure for fish-eye (high distortion) lens camera , 1994, Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[12]  Bo Yan,et al.  Improved hierarchical A-star algorithm for optimal parking path planning of the large parking lot , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation (ICIA).

[13]  G. R. Suresh,et al.  Path planning algorithm for autonomous mobile robot in dynamic environment , 2015, 2015 3rd International Conference on Signal Processing, Communication and Networking (ICSCN).

[14]  Chee-Keng Yap,et al.  A "Retraction" Method for Planning the Motion of a Disc , 1985, J. Algorithms.

[15]  Benjamin Grocholsky,et al.  Integrated long-range UAV/UGV collaborative target tracking , 2009, Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[16]  Gilbert Syswerda,et al.  Uniform Crossover in Genetic Algorithms , 1989, ICGA.

[17]  Hiroshi Naruse,et al.  Simple Calibration Algorithm for High-Distortion Lens Camera , 1992, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[18]  Cheng Hui,et al.  Autonomous takeoff, tracking and landing of a UAV on a moving UGV using onboard monocular vision , 2013, Proceedings of the 32nd Chinese Control Conference.

[19]  Yonggang Peng,et al.  A New Trajectory Planning Method of Redundant Manipulator Based on Adaptive Simulated Annealing Genetic Algorithm (ASAGA) , 2006, 2006 International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Security.

[20]  J. A. Bangham,et al.  Multiscale median and morphological filters used for 2D pattern recognition , 1993 .

[21]  Giovanni Muscato,et al.  UAV/UGV cooperation for surveying operations in humanitarian demining , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR).

[22]  Herbert G. Tanner,et al.  Switched UAV-UGV Cooperation Scheme for Target Detection , 2007, Proceedings 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[23]  Young-Jun Son,et al.  Vision-Based Target Detection and Localization via a Team of Cooperative UAV and UGVs , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems.

[24]  Dorothea Heiss-Czedik,et al.  An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms. , 1997, Artificial Life.

[25]  Pierre Soille.  Morphological Operators , 2000, Computer Vision and Applications.

[26]  Jianqiang Li,et al.  A novel multi-objective particle swarm optimization with multiple search strategies , 2015, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[27]  Robin R. Murphy,et al.  Human-robot interactions during the robot-assisted urban search and rescue response at the World Trade Center , 2003, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part B.

[28]  David W. L. Wang,et al.  Toward a systems- and control-oriented agent framework , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B (Cybernetics).

[29]  R. K. Ursem.  Multi-objective Optimization using Evolutionary Algorithms , 2009 .

[30]  Vijay Kumar,et al.  Cooperative air and ground surveillance , 2006, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine.