Practical Implementation of a Trajectory Planning Algorithm for an Autonomous UAV

A near real-time optimal trajectory planning framework for UAVs is presented and tested in a series of low altitude obstacle avoidance planning scenarios. The framework uses the Inverse Dynamics Trajectory Optimisation approach with a quaternion point-mass aircraft dynamic model and a hybrid Differential Evolution and Sequential Quadratic Programming based Interior-Point optimisation strategy. It was found that the new framework was able to successfully find a feasible (if not optimal) trajectory and to do so as efficiently as possible. However, it was also concluded that at this stage the framework is not yet fit to be used on a UAV, as the framework tends to take longer to plan a trajectory than it takes the UAV to fly it. Ultimately it was concluded that with some further work, the Hybrid framework could be a viable near real-time trajectory planner for UAVs