A constraint programming solution for the military unit path finding problem

The path/motion planning problem in the context of a mobile robot/vehicle was discussed in Chapter 3 and some results using A* algorithm were given. In this chapter, we present an algorithm to solve the Dynamic Military Unit Path Finding Problem (DMUPFP) which is based on Stentz’s wellknown D* algorithm to solve dynamic path finding problems [1]. The Military Unit Path Finding Problem (MUPFP) is the problem of finding a path from a starting point to a destination where a military unit has to move, or be moved, safely while avoiding threats and obstacles and minimising path cost in some digital representation of the actual terrain [2]. Path finding is the problem of moving an object from a starting point to a destination point, while avoiding obstacles and minimizing costs. It has many applications ranging from computer games, transportation, robotics, networks and others. Path finding algorithms can be divided into two different types, static (or global) and dynamic algorithms. For a static algorithm, the environment is assumed CONTENTS