Hybrid Form of Particle Swarm Optimization and Genetic Algorithm For Optimal Path Planning in Coverage Mission by Cooperated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

In this paper, a new form of open traveling salesman problem (OTSP) is used for path planning for optimal coverage of a wide area by cooperated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A hybrid form of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA) is developed for the current path planning problem of multiple UAVs in the coverage mission. Three path-planning approaches are introduced through a group of the waypoints in a mission area: PSO, genetic algorithm, and a hybrid form of parallel PSO-genetic algorithm. The proposed hybrid optimization tries to integrate the advantages of the PSO, i.e. coming out from local minimal, and genetic algorithm, i.e. better quality solutions within a reasonable computational time. These three approached are compared in many scenarios with different levels of difficulty. Statistical analyses reveal that the hybrid algorithm is a more effective strategy than others for the mentioned problem.