Path planning method for flight vehicle between two consecutive nodes

This paper presents a path planning algorithm for a flight vehicle operating between two consecutive nodes. At first, a nonlinear particle model describing kinematics in horizontal plane is founded. Taking all of constrains into consideration, such as turn acceleration constrain, both initial and final waypoints constrain, and Bank-to-turn control constrain, a method based on geometric principle to find a continuous curvature path is given. Assembling the clockwise turn, counter-clockwise turn, and straight primitive creates a flyable path, and then we reduce the path planning to an integral equation problem with single variable; with combination of analytical solution and numerical computation, opposite dividing method is adopted to solve the equation, whose convergence is proved in theory. The contribution of this paper offers strong support for mission planning. Finally, the effectiveness and rapidity of the algorithm is demonstrated by a mathematical simulation.