Spline-Based Flight Path Planning and Following for Aerial Navigation

Optimizing flight paths for fuel-efficiency in the context of airborne systems while maintaining strict control over endpoint velocity is uniquely challenging. Linear paths fail because of the strict angle constraints they present. Instead, we leverage the endpoint behavior control of Hermite splines and the intuitive design of Bézier curves to create a smooth flight path for our single-engine test vehicle that gives us precise control over our endpoint state and fuel consumption. To follow the path, we use an intuitive iterative check algorithm to validate which points were the most efficient to target while still staying on the path to reach our desired endpoint. The computational and physical efficiency of our algorithms as well as its adaptability and robustness were validated in MATLAB and Python using numpy, but have yet to be empirically tested. We discuss the algorithms’ development, the motivation behind our decisions, and our preliminary findings while opening up the conversation for further refinement in autonomous path planning and navigation.