Area coverage path planning for tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle based on enhanced genetic algorithm
An enhanced genetic algorithm was proposed to address the challenge of area coverage path planning for a tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle(TRUAV)amidst multiple obstacles.A preliminary coverage path plan for the designated task area was devised,utilizing the minimum spanning and back-and-forth path generation algorithms.The area coverage dilemma was transformed into a traveling salesman problem to optimize the sequence of the coverage path.A fishtail-shaped obstacle avoidance strategy was proposed to circumvent obstacles within the region.The nearest neighbor algorithm was introduced to generate a superior initial population than a genetic algorithm.A three-point crossover operator and a dynamic interval mutation operator were adopted in the genetic processes to improve the proposed algorithm's global search capacity and prevent the algorithm from falling into local optima.The efficacy of the proposed algorithm was rigorously tested through simulations in polygonal areas with multiple obstacles.Results showed that,compared to the sequential path coverage algorithm and the genetic algorithm,the proposed algorithm reduced the length of the coverage path by 7.80%,significantly enhancing the coverage efficiency of TRUAV in the given task areas.