Path Planning for UAVs with Engine Failure in the Presence of Winds

This paper focuses on path planning for fixed wing unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) with engine failures. The path is between a contingency waypoint (CP) and the initial approach fix (IAF) of a landing place. The mishap UAV is required to avoid passing through no-fly zones. The problem is very challenging due to engine failure and the presence of winds. We propose a new and systematic path planning approach to generating contingency paths from any contingency waypoints on the primary flight path to any IAFs. The inputs to our planning system comprise wind forecast, aircraft capability, primary flight path, and landing sites information. Wind is assumed to be steady within small segments in the contingency path. Moreover, remaining airtime and altitude at IAF can be estimated. Extensive simulations demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed approach.