A Star Based Path Planning Strategy for Off-Road Vehicle Applications With Considering Wheel Mobility Performance

Abstract Most current path planning algorithms, used in various applications such as robotics and unmanned ground vehicles, aim to find the shortest path. However, they have not yet incorporated terrain-dependent speed limits into these calculations, which could affect the practicality and safety of the resulting paths. This study investigates the integration of mobility considerations into vehicle path planning algorithms within off-road terrain environments. In this context, the Wheel Mobility Performance (WMP) index is introduced as a novel metric designed to assess the mobility performance of off-road vehicles across varied terrain conditions. An optimized version of the A* algorithm, which integrates the WMP index, has been developed and implemented to navigate challenging terrains. Simulation results demonstrate that the optimized algorithm effectively reduces traversal time by selecting paths with enhanced mobility performance. These findings highlight the potential of integrating domain-specific metrics like WMP to improve path planning efficiency for off-road vehicles, with implications for autonomous navigation and robotics applications.