Two-Stage Hierarchical 4D Low-Risk Trajectory Planning for Urban Air Logistics

The rapid development of the drone industry has facilitated the emergence of concepts such as urban air mobility (UAM), driving a wave of air logistics in urban very low-level (VLL) airspace. However, existing trajectory planning algorithms do not adequately consider the ground risks and secondary c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yuan Zheng, Yichao Li, Jie Cheng, Chenglong Li, Shichen Hu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Drones
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/9/4/267
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Summary:The rapid development of the drone industry has facilitated the emergence of concepts such as urban air mobility (UAM), driving a wave of air logistics in urban very low-level (VLL) airspace. However, existing trajectory planning algorithms do not adequately consider the ground risks and secondary conflicts arising from high-density operations in urban VLL airspace. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a two-stage hierarchical 4D trajectory planning method to minimize multiple risks. Specifically, the method consists of a risk-aware global planning module (RAGPM) for preflight trajectory planning and a non-secondary conflict local planning module (NCLPM) for in-flight conflict avoidance. Consequently, low-risk trajectory without secondary conflict can be found in complex environments with high-density operations, as illustrated by extensive experiments.
ISSN:2504-446X