UAV Path Planning for Surveillance Applications: Rotary-Wing vs. Fixed-Wing UAVs
Bahareh Jafari, Hamid Saeedi, Hossein Pishro-Nik · 2024
In this paper, we propose various path-planning scenarios for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) surveillance applications, aiming to provide uniform coverage over the region of interest while minimizing mechanical energy consumption. We demonstrate that depending on the specific nature of the application, the optimal path, as well as the preferred UAV type (fixed-wing versus rotarywing), can vary. We subsequently provide recommendations about the choice of UAV type and optimal paths for surveillance applications such as fire outbreak detection or intrusion detection. Generally, it is commonly perceived that, for a given application and path, rotarywing UAVs consume significantly more energy than their fixed-wing counterparts. However, to our surprise, we identify scenarios where the rotarywing UAV outperforms its fixed-wing counterpart in terms of energy consumption.