Multi-UAV Mission Planning for Fuel-constrained Persistent Surveillance Problem
Jiezhi Xu, Yang Chen, Ling Xiong · 2020
Persistent surveillance of a target space using multiple UAVs has many applications. The persistent operation for monitoring is challenged by limited endurance of the persistent UAVs. We consider the problem for replenishing persistent UAVs using static charging station, where persistent UAVs collectively compute a set of paths to replace the batteries for persistent surveillance mission. Compared to the existing work, persistent UAVs based on static charging station recharge strategy can monitor more information. We formulate this problem as multiple traveling salesman problem on a complete graph. An efficient hybrid ant colony algorithm is proposed, which aims at planning a set of paths for UAVs to visit targets in order to collect the maximum surveillance benefit. In addition, considering the endurance of persistent UAVs, we also propose an Indirect Path Repair Algorithm to plan replenishment route of persistent UAVs. The simulation also shows that the proposed algorithm and application background are competitive and promising.