Air Channel Planning Based on Improved Deep Q-Learning and Artificial Potential Fields

Abstract

With the rapid advancement of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, the widespread utilization of UAVs poses significant challenges to urban low-altitude safety and airspace management. In the coming future, the quantity of drones is expected to experience a substantial surge. Effectively regulating the flight behavior of UAVs has become an urgent and imperative issue that needs to be addressed. Hence, this paper proposes a standardized approach to UAV flight through the design of an air channel network. The air channel network comprises numerous single air channels, and this study focuses on investigating the characteristics of a single air channel. To achieve optimal outcomes, the concept of the artificial potential field algorithm is integrated into the deep Q-learning algorithm during the establishment of a single air channel. By improving the action space and reward mechanism, the resulting single air channel enables efficient avoidance of various buildings and obstacles. Finally, the algorithm is assessed through comprehensive simulation experiments, demonstrating its effective fulfillment of the aforementioned requirements.

Keywords

• air channel network
• path planning
• urban air traffic control
• DQN