Triple-stage path prediction algorithm for real-time mission planning of multi-UAV

A triple-stage path prediction algorithm is proposed for real-time mission planning. In every planning horizon, each unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) utilises the A* algorithm first to estimate the path to every task. Then, the estimated result serve as the input of the cluster method to generate the quasi-optimal task assignment. The shortest path to the assigned task is further calculated using the A* algorithm. Finally, it is smoothed to obtain the flyable reference path to guide the UAV by using the cubic B-spline curve. Numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.