Optimal Trajectory-Planning of UAVs via B-Splines and Disjunctive Programming

Abstract: This paper investigates an efficient algorithm for trajectory planning problem of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles which fly over three-dimensional terrains. The proposed algorithm combines convex optimization with disjunctive programming and receding horizon concept, which has many advantages, such as a high computational speed. Disjunctive programming is applied in order to relax the non-convex constraints of the problem. Moreover, the B-spline curves are employed to represent the trajectories which should be generated in the optimization process.