Artificial Potential Field Method for Path and Trajectory Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Review
Evgeny Kozlov, Tagir Z. Muslimov · Unmanned Systems · 2025
In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) have been gaining popularity due to their great potential in various practical applications. Regardless of the field of application, the main task of UAV control is the task of flight path and trajectory planning. The solution of this task is often based on safety (both surrounding objects and the UAV itself) and optimization in terms of energy consumption and the length of the flight path. This paper presents an overview of a common method of path and local trajectory planning — the artificial potential field (APF) method, substantiating its relevance in application to UAVs (multicopters, fixed-wing UAVs) by analyzing the latest research papers (for the period from 2021 to 2025). The APF method in its standard formulation has a few significant drawbacks when applied to UAVs. Therefore, the focus was on research related to the modifications of the traditional APF to address identified shortcomings. A conventional classification of the analyzed modifications was performed, and their advantages and disadvantages were emphasized. The survey paper concludes by discussing the directions of future research on drone path and trajectory planning using the APF method.