Real-time path planning in dynamic environments for unmanned aerial vehicles using the curve-shortening flow method

This article proposes a new algorithm for real-time path planning in dynamic environments based on space-discretized curve-shortening flows. The so-called curve-shortening flow method shares working principles with the well-established elastic bands method and overcomes some of its drawbacks concerning numerical robustness and parameterability. This is achieved by efficiently applying semi-implicit time integration for evolving the path and secondly by developing a methodology for setting the algorithm’s parameters based on physical quantities. Different short- and long-term validation scenarios are performed with three interlinked instances of the curve-shortening flow method each running on an individual industrial control and driving a real or a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle.