An effective method of UAV flight path planning on-line in wind field using improved A ^* searching algorithm

To shorten the flight time of UAV, we propose an algorithm of UAV flight path planning on-line under battle field threats. Sections 1 through 3 of the full paper explain our method of flight path planning mentioned in the title, which we believe is better than the existing ones and whose core consists of: "UAV estimates the wind field information on-line using our proposed method during the flight. Then the choice of the extend nodes in A ^* search algorithm is considered according to the wind direction and the cost function is designed as the flight time". Section 3 is entitled "Method of UAV Flight Path Planning On-Line in Wind Field Using Improved A ^* Searching Algorithm"; for convenience, we divide it into four sub-sections: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4. Simulation results, presented in Figs.4 and 5 and Table 2, and their analysis show preliminarily that the flight time is indeed less than that obtained with the traditional method based on the length of the flight path.