Micro UAV Path Planning for Reconnaissance in Wind

Abstract

The problem addressed in this paper is the control of a micro unmanned aerial vehicle (MAV) for the purpose of obtaining video footage of a set of known ground targets with preferred azimuthal viewing angles, using fixed onboard cameras. Control is exercised only through the selection of waypoints, without modification of the MAV's pre-existing autopilot and waypoint following capability. Specifically, we investigate problems and potential solutions of performing this task in the presence of a known constant wind. Simulations are provided in the presence of randomly perturbed wind, based on the Air Force Research Laboratory equipment and the high fidelity simulator MultiU <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">A</sub> V2.