Cubic Spline Based Path Planning for UAV

The problem of path planning for auto-navigating aerial vehicle is handled based on cubic spline (CS) method. For comparison, digital differential analyzer (DDA) method is also used to compute the amount of acceptable deflection of the flight route when it is planned by these methods. This problem require to design a control system for guiding the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) along the intended route, and then establish an electronic circuit of such controller. A simple model of quadcopter is used to play the role of UAV with the designed controller to implement a number of practical tests with different flight situations: once using DDA method and another using CS one. The recorded results showed that the deflection percent of the planned path using DDA planning method was about 31%, while it was about 8% for CS method. It is shown that the CS method serves the subject of flight path planning due to less path deflection and smooth flight path are achieved.