Optimal Coverage Path Planning Based on the Rotating Calipers Algorithm

Field surveying by drones has become a successful activity with applications to mapping, precision agriculture, surveillance, etc. The current state of the art path planners for surveying rely on computing the path that minimizes the number of flight lines. However, such approach could be sub-optimal when the take off and landing points are included in the path. We propose a method that computes the optimal path, including the take off and landing points. Our method is based on the rotating calipers algorithm and it has a O(n) complexity.