CDT-Dijkstra: Fast Planning of Globally Optimal Paths for All Points in 2D Continuous Space

TL;DR

This paper introduces CDT-Dijkstra, a novel algorithm that efficiently computes globally optimal paths from a single start point to all other points in 2D continuous space, significantly improving planning speed and accuracy.

Contribution

The paper develops a continuous-space path planning algorithm that reduces the problem to 1D and proves its correctness, enabling rapid global optimal path computation from one point to all others.

Findings

Plans optimal paths from one point to all others in continuous space.

Reduces the planning problem from 2D to 1D using cutline points.

Demonstrates significant speed and accuracy advantages over existing methods.

Abstract

The Dijkstra algorithm is a classic path planning method, which in a discrete graph space, can start from a specified source node and find the shortest path between the source node and all other nodes in the graph. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no effective method that achieves a function similar to that of the Dijkstra's algorithm in a continuous space. In this study, an optimal path planning algorithm called convex dissection topology (CDT)-Dijkstra is developed, which can quickly compute the global optimal path from one point to all other points in a 2D continuous space. CDT-Dijkstra is mainly divided into two stages: SetInit and GetGoal. In SetInit, the algorithm can quickly obtain the optimal CDT encoding set of all the cut lines based on the initial point x_{init}. In GetGoal, the algorithm can return the global optimal path of any goal point at an extremely high speed. In this study, we propose and prove the planning principle of considering only the points on the cutlines, thus reducing the state space of the distance optimal path planning task from 2D to 1D. In addition, we propose a fast method to find the optimal path in a homogeneous class and theoretically prove the correctness of the method. Finally, by testing in a series of environments, the experimental results demonstrate that CDT-Dijkstra not only plans the optimal path from all points at once, but also has a significant advantage over advanced algorithms considering certain complex tasks.