Control of movement in an arbitrary polygonal terrain
C. T. Cunningham · University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) · 1993
Efficient algorithms are presented for coordinated movement of semi-automated, computer-generated forces in a command hierarchy. At each level in the hierarchy, units move toward a goal, selected at a higher level, along paths which combine maintenance of a desired formation with minimization of a penalty integral -- some weighted combination of factors such as time, fuel, exposure, attrition, etc. Topics considered are the representation of terrain as a convex polygonal mesh, generalization of the A* pathfinding algorithm to a 2-D surface, fields of extremal paths, flexible formation templates, and synchronization and adaptive replanning.