3D environment modeling with height dimension reduction and path planning for UAV

In this paper, an environment modeling method with height dimension reduction for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) path planning is presented. Based on the traditional grid method, a plane being vertical to yz-plane and including the start point and end point is considered in this method. Comparing the height of this plane and obstacles, the environment model could be set up through re-dividing the plane by grid method. Above idea reduces the dimension of the 3D environment model and ignores the obstacles which are lower than the flying height of UAV. In this way, the accuracy of the proposed environment model method could be increased, and the efficiency of the path planning algorithm could be ensured further. Simulation experiment shows the effectiveness of this environment modeling method by applying A∗ algorithm for path planning.