Multi-UAV Path Planning for Inspection of Target Points with Stable Monitoring Frequencies

In this study, we focus on the path-planning problem of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) deployed for inspection missions at target points. The goal is to visit each target point, provide revisits to important target points, and ultimately meet the monitoring requirements with regular and stable monitoring frequencies. Herein, we present MTSP-R, a novel variant of the multiple traveling salesmen problem (MTSP), in which revisits to important target points are allowed. We address the path-planning problem of multi-UAV in two stages. First, we propose a nearest insertion algorithm with revisits (NIA-R) to determine the number of required UAVs and initial inspection paths. We then propose an improved genetic algorithm (IGA) with two-part chromosome encoding to further optimize the inspection paths of the UAVs. The simulation results demonstrate that the IGA can effectively overcome the shortcomings of the original genetic algorithm, providing shorter paths for multiple UAVs and more stable monitoring frequencies for the target points.