Minimal time synthesis for a kinematic drone model

TL;DR

This paper develops a minimal time control strategy for a simplified UAV model with bounded velocities and turning radius, providing a partitioned state space for optimal path planning to reach a target.

Contribution

It introduces a time-optimal synthesis method for a kinematic UAV model, enabling efficient path planning to reach a target circle.

Findings

Partitioned state space for optimal paths

Unique optimal control paths identified

Efficient time minimization achieved

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a (rough) kinematic model for a UAV flying at constant altitude moving forward with positive lower and upper bounded linear velocities and positive minimum turning radius.For this model, we consider the problem of minimizing the time travelled by the UAV starting from a general configuration to connect a specified target being a fixed circle of minimum turning radius.The time-optimal synthesis is presented as a partition of the state space which defines a unique optimal path such that the target can be reached optimally.