3D Obstacle Avoidance Using Potential Fluid Flow Inspired Guidance
Hrishav Das, Ashwini Ratnoo · 2025
A new method of generating trajectories for obstacle avoidance with a goal-seeking objective is proposed that makes use of 2D potential fluid flow expressions of streamlines. The objective of obstacle avoidance in 3D is made possible by reducing an obstacle to a minimum volume enclosing ellipsoid and then taking a planar slice of the ellipsoid to get an ellipse. The avoidance maneuver is performed on this plane by selecting and tracking a streamline from analytical results of a potential flow across an ellipse. This method guarantees a smooth avoidance trajectory while ensuring a higher level objective of waypoint tracking is maintained. Numerical simulations are carried out and promising results are discussed.