Path Planning for Searching Submarine With Cooperative Coverage of Fixed-Wing UAVs Cluster in Complex Boundary Sea Area

Aiming at the problem of using fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (clusters) for rapid coverage search of submarines in large-scale sea areas, the strategy of using a single UAV for coverage searching in form of Dubins curve (SCSDC) and the strategy of using fixed-wing UAVs cluster for cooperative coverage searching in form of parallel intervals (SCSPI) were proposed after selective removal of concave points in complex irregular concave polygonal areas. First, the cost mathematical model of cooperative search for multiple UAVs was established. At the same time, considering the limitation of turning radius of UAVs, a Dubins curve coverage search strategy was proposed to avoid search blind areas. Second, the judgment conditions of “edge length threshold” and “angle threshold” were introduced, and the method of selective removal of concave points was proposed to transform the irregular concave polygon area into a regular convex polygonal area. Then, to reduce the searching cost of UAV’s “
$\Omega $
” turning type and improve the timeliness of its submarine search, a strategy of UAV cluster cooperative coverage search in the form of parallel interval was proposed. Finally, a comparative verification experiment was designed for the strategy of SCSDC and SCSPI in a complex irregular polygon search area. The simulation results show that selection of the two different area coverage search strategies needs to be determined according to actual combat requirements. The experimental results well verify the effectiveness and application scope of the two area coverage search strategies, and provide information support for subsequent antisubmarine action.