Path Planning and Following Control of a Quadrotor Helicopter in Three-Dimensional Space With Limited Information

This paper presents a real-time path planning and following control strategy based on rapidly exploring random tree (RRT) and Line of Sight (LOS) for achieving autonomous flight of a quadrotor helicopter in three-dimensional complex space with limited available obstacle information. Regarding the path planning problem, a new three-dimensional path planning algorithm is proposed to generate efficient and executable paths based on RRT and cubic Bézier curve. With respect to path following control, LOS algorithm is employed and extended to three-dimensional space to enable the quadrotor helicopter to follow the preplanned path. Finally, a series of simulation tests are carried out to validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. The demonstrated results show that with the proposed path planning and tracking control strategy, the studied quadrotor helicopter can successfully accomplish the deployed mission in both static and dynamic obstacle environments.