An optimal UAV and UGV Cooperative Network Navigation Algorithm for Bushfire Surveillance and Disaster Relief

In addressing the challenges of rapid bushfire evacuation, this paper presents an integrated air-ground autonomous system harnessing both Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles(UGV). Drawing inspiration from prior works, our approach employs UAVs for disaster area surveillance using Coverage Path Planning (CPP) to comprehensively assess fire dynamics. Upon detecting fire in high-risk zones, the UAV not only alerts the nearby residents but also formulates an evacuation path to safe zones. Concurrently, unmanned vehicles, guided by these UAVs and leveraging the reactive algorithm, are dispatched for victim retrieval, ensuring efficient navigation around obstacles. This dual-system response is framed as an optimization problem. This approach melds advanced fire modeling with state-of-the-art navigation for an improved bushfire response strategy.