Low-altitude UAV Autonomous Obstacle Avoidance using LiDAR Sensor Fusion

Autonomous obstacle avoidance refers to the realization of autonomous operation, obstacle avoidance and control through various sensors and algorithms during the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and safely reaching the designated target point. In this paper, we mainly propose an autonomous obstacle avoidance method composed of three modules: environment perception, motion planning and motion control. Our method realizes the function of mapping and obstacle avoidance of UAV in low-altitude complex environments. Firstly, the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors used to perceive obstacles around the flight environment and mapping. Then, the path planning algorithm generates a collision-free flight path based on the collected data from the LiDAR. Finally, the control algorithm controls the UAV to fly along the generated safe path to realize the autonomous obstacle avoidance flight. We verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method in 3D simulation environment.