2012 International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Technology

Advances in Biomedical Engineering, Vol.8

A UAV Path Planning Method Based on Threat Sources

Fan Xing, Yan Hao, Zhang Guo-ping
Wuhan Digital Engineering Institute, Wuhan, China
Keywords: UAV, route planning, threat sources, genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing
algorithm (SA)

Abstract: In the modern wars where the anti-air technology continues to be perfect, the threats that
UAVs face are becoming increasingly obvious. In order to ensure the safety of the UAVs, the route
planning shall try to keep away from all threat sources. Starting from the analysis and presentation
on the threat sources, the threat source model is built. Constrained by the minimum route and lowest
threat through the whole route, the genetic simulated annealing algorithm (SA) is used to carry out
the route planning to combine the threat values with the flight distance of each leg, so that the
adaptation evaluation function based on the threat sum can be built and the algorithm design can be
carried out, which will solve the problems of the genetic algorithm, such as poor local searching
capability and low efficiency of simulated annealing algorithm. The experiment results show that
the local search capability of the genetic simulated annealing algorithm has been greatly increased
and the convergence velocity has been greatly improved.
1
Introduction
Along with the development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, the UAV is widely
used in civil and military affairs. As a key technology of UAV, the path planning becomes a hotspot
for study. The main aim of the path planning is to choose the path which has the lowest threat and
passes through the enemy defenses area for the UAV with the combat missions, such as operation
and reconnaissance. The present research usually classified the path planning method into two
categories: the mission level path planning and the tactical level path planning. The mission level
path planning of UAV is seen as the static path planning which is the ground path planning before
the UAV takes off. The operating planners in the ground stations would calculate the path according
to the targets and navigations in the topographic map of the mission areas and provide the optimal
flight route.
To reduce the risk during the process of the UAV being debriefed in the flight route and increase
the penetration probability of the UAV, the contact with the risk source should be reduced and
traversing the more serious threat region should be avoided. Because of the obvious differences of
the distribution of the risk sources and range in the task area, the threatened situation of the UAV in
all legs should be analyzed and calculated respectively in the route planning. The method of the
route plan has developed several ways, such as the Dijkstra algorithm[1] based on the visibility
graph, the dynamic programming method, the steepest descent method, the optimal control method,
the heuristic searching method, the neural network method, the simulated annealing algorithm, the
mixed integer programming method, the potential field method, A* and the improved algorithm
*
( A [2]abc[3]), the DIRECT algorithm[4], the genetic algorithm[5], etc. And the route plan is
mostly simplified to the searching path problem in the state space[6,7] and solved by using search
algorithms. To avoid the threats is the most important factor in the route plan and the application
voronoi map (abbreviated as V map) is an effective technology. In many literatures the approach be
based on the threat in the air combat area is to establish the corresponding voronoi map and search
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ICEET 2012

the best route using Dijkstra arithmetic. The approach is actually consider the all the threat points as
having the same properties. That is the route plan for the same threat. In literature [9] the best route
which avoids the threat area is determined from the initial points to target points by using the
geometry method. In literature [10] the best route is determined by using the genetic algorithms. In
literature [11] the best route is determined by the A* search algorithms. These program algorithms
use static path planning on definite information and obtain the global best route based on certain
environment. In literature [12] the threat field is constructed by using the voronoi map and gets the
flight route with method of the spline cubic. But this is not in accord with the facts when the threat
is simplified as one point.
The genetic simulated annealing algorithm is a mixed algorithm which is applying the simulated
annealing algorithm in the process of the genetic algorithm. The genetic algorithm is good at
searching space as a whole, but poor at local search. Even the result is near the optimal points, the
process still needs many iterations to get the optimal points. And the genetic algorithm is easy to
fall in local optima and cause premature convergence problem. The simulated annealing algorithm
is simulating the process of solid annealing and is strong in local search to avoid sticking at local
optima. But the effectiveness of the simulated annealing algorithm is not good because the
searching process is not easily entering the most optimistic area for it knows little about the whole
search space. A new excellent properties global search algorithm was designed by combining the
simulated annealing algorithm with the genetic algorithm and complementing each others
advantages. This paper analyzes different kinds of the threat sources which may be distributed in
the UAV task areas and divides them into grade according to the degree of the threat, then
investigates the method for the mission level route plan. The paper also applies the genetic
simulated annealing algorithm to the route plan algorithm based on the threat sources and adopts
coding method based on dimension reduction and direct quantization. To evaluate the UAV route in
the task areas, we use the total threat composed of different threat sources as fitness function. This
method can effectual rapidly converge and work out the approximate optimal flight route under
least constraint condition of the total threat.
2
Mathematical models
2.1
The representation of threat source
There are two main types of the threat sources. One is the threat system in which the enemy
topographic parameters and the distribution of radar maintain a relatively constant position, namely
the static threat. The static threat has already been added to the topographic and threat parameter
database before setting out on the UAV task. If information is reliable and other threats dont
appear suddenly midway, we can use the existing threat data to plan the flight route of the UAV.
But usually the condition of the UAV task areas included not only the static threat, but also the
dynamic threat such as the enemys attack airplanes, bombers, antiaircraft guns, missiles and etc.
When the dynamic threat was met, the new UAV flight route would be generated using the tactical
level route planning to avoid or penetrate these threat sources. The static threat and dynamic threat
is discussed respectively in the mission level and tactical level plan. So the division of labour is
clear-cut and the task would be provided easy management and more reasonable logic foundation.

a. the model of no-flight zone b. the threat model of radar or fire c. the threat model of terrain
Figure 1 the model of threat source
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In this paper various threats are simplified and modeled to the geometry combination of the
cylinders or cones of certain action radius. We only took into account the lateral motion of the UAV
in the cruising flight, namely the horizontal route. So the predetermined cruising altitude of UAV
can be simplified to plane geometry model.
The dynamic threat would be considered in the tactical level route plan but not in the mission
level route plan. As shown in Figure 1, the threat data includes the position and action radius of the
radar, the coordinate and altitude of the terrain obstacles and the no-flight zone. These models show
those areas which the UAV can not flight over but only round. We use the anomalous pillar and the
limited altitude to represent the abominable weather area such as thunder and lighting area. The
UAV can choose round or take risk to cross these areas.
We use the hemisphere to represent the radar or fire area. The central point of the hemisphere
shows the center of the radar or firing point while the radius shows the sphere of action. These areas
should be rounded or be taken risk to cross by the UAV. And we use the cone to represent
topographical features such as mountains. These areas should be rounded.
When the UAVs reach a cruising altitude, we will turn the three-dimensional work environment
to the two-dimensional environment by reducing the altitude factor in topographical features. So we
can get the threat plane of the prescribed flight altitude resolved from the simplified threat model.
Then we would plot out the origination points, destination points, mission points and mission areas
of UAV on the sea chart or the aviation chart. And we will indicate the planar route planning space
on the sea chart. This simplified method can reduce the difficulty of route plan and be helpful to
rapidly plan the suitable flight route. The expression of the route plan space is shown as Figure 2.

Figure 2 the expression of the route plan space

2.2
The representation of area
In the UAV mission flight areas, there are much difference between actual distribution and threat
range of different threat sources. For example, the effectual intercepting radius of the surface-to-air
missile is much larger than the shooting radius of the ground-to-air defense gun. So the threatened
situation of each leg in the flight route should be handled respectively.
We divided the mission area into grids and estimated the threat value of each grid. The situation
of the multiple coverage of threat source in each grid should be considered. When the grid was in
the scan radius of radar, the threat value in the grid should be specified by using weight method.

319

Figure 3 the mission area in the grid

When the grid was covered by single threat source, the value of the grid is the threat value of this
threat source. When the grid was covered by several threat source and in the radar direction area,
the threat value of the grid can be confirmed by using the method of the threat matrix. The threat
matrix is: W ( A) = w , where w = T and T is the threat value.
i, j

i, j

i, j

i, j

3 Programming algorithm
According to the description above mentioned, the main operations to solve problems in the route
planning using the genetic simulated annealing algorithm is as follows:
(1)Initializing control parameters, these include: population size N, maximum evolution
number N , determinate parameter k of crossover probabilities p , determinate parameter k of
mutation probabilities p , the annealing initial temperature t , the parameter of temperature
cooling r, the iteration step N , cooling times N ;
(2)Constructing the chromosome and creating the initial population. We took the grid cell of the
mission area for gene potential and the individual chromosomes of designated population size
randomly generated according to corresponding coding method for initial population;
(3)Using the threat total quantity and path lengths of all fight routes as the adaptive function and
calculating the adaptive value of each chromosome in contemporary population;
(4) Executing the selection strategy at temperature t . We chose two chromosomes u i and u
gen

int er

des

pc

for crossover operator according to crossover probabilities .Then using mutation by crossover

probabilities p , we got two new individuals u and u and calculated their adaptive value f (i)

and f ( j ) , respectively.
(5) For the new individual u , if ( f (i) > f (i)) , the new status i would be accepted as the current
status. Otherwise if the probability p = exp[( f (i) f (i)) / t ] is greater than random numbers within
the interval [0,1], the new status i is still accepted as the current status. And if the probability is
not greater than random numbers, the status i would be reserved as the current status. We do the
same with the new individual u .
(6) Judging whether the convergence condition is satisfied. If result is true, optimal solution is
output and the algorithm is terminated. Otherwise we would set t = rt and turn to (3).
m

k +1

3.1 Calculation of adaptability

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The calculation of adaptability is to decode and estimate every individual. The genetic algorithms
do not use the external information in the evolution search process. Only based on the adaptive
function, the search is carried out by every individuals adaptive value in the population. So the
choice of the fitness is very important to the convergence speed of the genetic algorithm and the
find of the optimal solution.
In this paper we used the cost of the flight route as the fitness. The more the cost of the flight
route is, the less the adaptive value is. The cost of the flight route is proportionate to not only the
distance but also the risk of this route. The adaptive function in this paper used mainly the total risk
of the whole flight route as evaluation standard of the route. The total risk is the combine
calculation of the route track and the risk value of each element in the risk matrix of the flight route.
The total risk is increased with the extension of the route track and represents the total risk level of
the UAV in the whole flight route. The expression of the fitness is given by formula (6). The
algorithm in the paper is to obtain an array in which the UAV traverses every flight route point once
that cause the flight route to be shortest.
1

f ( x, y ) =

(1)

Ti , j L( x, y )

Ti , j = t1 + t j
j
=2

(m 5)

(2)

L( x, y ) = Pi Pi+1

(3)

( x2 x1 ) + ( y2 y1 )
2

Pi Pi+1 =

(4)

cos

f ( x, y )
N

f tmpi =

(5)

i =1

f ( x, y ) i
2
f tmpi

fi =

(6)

2
tmpi

i =1

Where f is adaptive value, f ( x, y ) is the distance of the flight route in ith grid and N is the
number of the populations. The formula (2) presents the superimposed risk value of every risk
source in a grid. Where t is the highest risk value of the risk sources which could cover this grid
and is weight coefficient. When the grid is not covered by any radar, =1; Otherwise >1.
is the weighting coefficient which is the summation of the risk value of other risk sources. The
formula (3) describes the length of UAVs flight route in a grid and there is at least one point to be
the intersection of the flight route and boundary of the grid in P , P . The formula (4) gives the
calculation of the distance of the flight route in the grid. is the angle between the UAV flight
route and the horizontal grid line. (x1 , y1 ) and (x 2 , y 2 ) is the coordinate of navigation point in a
i

i +1

grid and the corresponding point of the vertical edge of the grid, respectively.
3.2 Operation of choosing and copying
The genetic algorithm always retains the search direction of better value in great probability and
retains the search direction of worse value in low probability. Based on the size of the individual
fitness, the selection copy of the genetic algorithm collects randomly individuality to the next
genetic operations. In the implementation of algorithm, this paper took the widely used roulette
selection and the optimum reserved operation. The roulette selection is shown as formula (7).
f
(7)
P=
i

f
N

i =1

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In the formula P is the probability of selecting individuality and can be imitated by the following
process.
Step 1: generating an equally distributed random r in the interval [0, 1].
Step 2: if r q , the 1st individuality is chosen.
Step 3: if q < r q and (2 k N ) , the k th individuality is chosen. Where q is the
accumulation probability of the i th (i = 1,2,", N ) individuality and the equation to calculate it
i

k 1

qi = P ( j )
i

is

.
By the equation we can see that the higher the individual adaptive value is, the larger the chosen
probability of choosing and copying operation is. In the roulette selection, each individual has the
chance to be chosen. To some extent, this keeps the individual diversity and makes the individuality
that has some good genes and bad whole fitness to be chosen and descend the good genes at the
cross stage. The optimization remain operation would keep the best individuality in the current
population and have a fast convergent speed in each genetic step.
j =1

3.3 Crossover operation

Crossover is the main method to produce a new individual. In the cross stage, because of the
particularity of real number coding that utilized in the encoding measuring, the crossover method
that we used is different. The main method is partial matching crossover and sequence crossover.
We chose two cross points at random to find a matching phase and produce two child individuals
based on the mapping relation which were built up by the middle phase that between two cross
points in two parent individuals. The cross pictorial diagram is shown as Fig 4. Where A and B are
the parent individuals, the triangular symbol is the cross position, A1 and B1 are the new generated
individuals.

Figure 4 diagram of part of matching crossover

3.4 Mutation operation

The mutation operation is also an important method to produce new individuals. The main mutation
operation is shown as Fig 5. When the population reaches a plateau because individuals repeat
many times, the mutation operation can evolve new individuals that have higher fitness and
promote populations evolution. In this paper the mutation operation is self-reproduce mutation and
processes the individuals. During implementing, we adopted two realizations. One is to choose two
points at random and invert the sequence of the two points. The other is to switch randomly two
points in flight route. Fig 5 shows the optimization effect diagram of inverted mutation and
exchanged mutation.
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Figure 5 diagram of the mutation operation

The mutation operation is controlled by the mutation probability. The probability of these two
mutation operations is equal in realization. In the implementation of the algorithms, all other
parameters use the advised datum of standard gene algorithm.
4 Simulation experiment test
We designed and realized a complete multiple objective and multi-constrained subsystem using best
path planning which is developed based on Microsoft Visual C++. The configuration method of the
simulation experiment system is shown as Table 1.
Table 1 The configuration method of the simulation experiment system
Hardware
CPU
Memory
Disk

configuration
Pentium4 2.60G
512M
IDE 80G

Shown as Fig 2, multi-class threat objects are set in the imagined martial area. According to the
procedures and methods introduced in this paper and graphical model algorithm, we established
threat sources and performed the flight route planning simulation. We also compared the test
calculation of genetic algorithms and genetic simulated annealing algorithms.
90
80
70

50
40
30
20
10

90
0
96
0

78
0
84
0

66
0
72
0

54
0
60
0

48
0

42
0

36
0

24
0
30
0

18
0

60
12
0

0
0

60

a. the convergence situation of genetic algorithm

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100
90
80

70
60
50
40
30
20
10

96
0

90
0

84
0

78
0

66
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54
0
60
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48
0

36
0
42
0

24
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12
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60

b. the convergence situation of genetic simulated annealing algorithm

Figure 6 compare of the simulation result between genetic algorithm and genetic simulated annealing algorithm

As shown in Fig 6, genetic algorithms reached the global optima when iteration times were
550-750. But because the variations of the population average were not obvious, the calculation of
genetic algorithms can not jump local optimum and stuck at local optima until the iteration times
achieved 780. However, the improving algorithm got the global optimal solution when iteration
times were 620. The convergent speed is obviously increased greatly and the local optimum is
effectively avoided.
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