Local Path-Planning Simulation and Driving Test of Electric Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Cooperative Mission with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Featured Application Local path-planning simulation and experiment using potential field considering calculation time. Recently, various studies related to the development of unmanned vehicles have been conducted around the world. In particular, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been developed and utilized for various purposes. In this study, we developed a method for the path generation of UGVs in a system in which one operator controls many different types of unmanned vehicles. In the driving control system (DCS), it is necessary to process sensor data such as GPS/INS and LiDAR when generating a path by receiving the target waypoint from the ground control station. In addition, the DCS must upload the current location, posture, state, etc., as well as save driving log. Therefore, in order to recognize obstacles in real time and generate a path, a safe path generation algorithm with a short computation time is required. Among the various path generation methods, the potential field algorithm was selected, and the algorithm was modified to reduce the computation time. The computation time before and after modification of the algorithm was obtained and compared through simulation, and the algorithm was verified through application to an actual system by performing an obstacle avoidance experiment and a simultaneous control experiment for two UGVs.

Automated summary

In this study, a method for path generation of UGVs was developed, using the modified potential field algorithm to reduce computation time. The algorithm was validated through experiments.