Target searching and global path planning in UAV/UGV cooperative systems

Abstract

It is difficult for a single robot to perform tasks in a complex environment, so Unmanned Air/Ground Vehicle(UAV/UGV) cooperative systems have been widely concerned. In order to improve the efficiency of UAV/UGV cooperative systems, a global path planning for UGV under the target recognized by UAV was proposed. Firstly, SURF algorithm was studied in identify targets and image segmentation was applied to build a map. Then, the optimized A* algorithm was proposed in global path planning for UGV based on the information acquired by UAV. Finally, simulations were performed in a typical rescue scenario. Experiments show that SURF algorithm can achieve the accuracy, real-time and robustness of target recognition. The optimized A* algorithm can achieve the feasibility and real-time of global path planning.

Keywords

• UAV/UGV cooperation systems
• target recognition
• global path planning
• SURF algorithm
• optimized A* algorithm