Comprehensive Global Path Planning for Lunar Rovers

Aiming at the large-scale autonomous detection of the lunar rover, this paper proposes a comprehensive global path planning algorithm based on the lunar digital elevation map. Firstly, a planning environment analysis method was designed based on the obtained lunar digital elevation map. Based on the extracted terrain information and solar conditions, a comprehensive smoothness map and an effective solar energy map are generated, which provided a reference for the subsequent comprehensive global path planning. Then, the MFA* algorithm is proposed. A multi-cost heuristic function is designed to adjust the focus of the algorithm to generate paths in different regions based on terrain and lighting information. And improved the search mechanism of the A* algorithm to shorten the search time of the algorithm, which is suitable for the fast search of the large-scale path on the lunar surface. Finally, the area of the Sinus Iridum was selected as the simulation scenario to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm.