Multi-Objective Trajectory Planning for Slung-Load Quadrotor System

In this article, multi-objective trajectory planning has been carried out for a quadrotor carrying a slung load. The goal is to obtain non-dominated solutions for path length, mission duration, and dissipated energy cost functions. These costs are optimized by imposing constraints on the slung-load quadrotor system’s endpoints, borders, obstacles, and dynamical equations. The dynamic model of a slung-load quadrotor system is used in the Euler-Lagrange formulation. Although the differential flatness feature is mostly used in this system’s trajectory planning, a fully dynamic model has been used in our study. A new multi-objective Genetic Algorithm has been developed to solve path planning, aiming to optimize trajectory length, mission time, and energy consumed during the mission. The solution process has a three-phase algorithm: Phase-1 is about randomly generating waypoints, Phase-2 is about constructing the initial non-dominated pool, and the final phase, Phase-3, is obtaining the solution. In addition to conventional genetic operators, simple genetic operators are proposed to improve the trajectories locally. Pareto Fronts have been obtained corresponding to exciting scenarios. The method has been tested, and results have been presented at the end. A comparison of the solutions obtained with MOGA operators and MOPSO over hypervolume values is also presented.