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Time-optimal Simultaneous Rendezvous of Fixed-Wing UAVs in 3D

Bibhash Chandra Mitra, and Sikha Hota, Member, IEEE
the target, the priority of the target and the threats to be


Abstract— This paper develops the time-optimal path for the

simultaneous arrival of a swarm of fixed-wing UAVs in a three- encountered while reaching the target, which can be done by
dimensional (3D) environment filled with obstacles. The some established algorithms, for example, satisficing decision
generated path also considers the different turn rate bounds theory [2] as presented in [1]. For this current work, it is
arising out of the dynamics of a fixed-wing UAV in different assumed that the UAVs are already assigned to the target.
two-dimensional (2D) planes of 3D space. For generating
obstacle-free waypoint segments in the cluttered environment
3D Voronoi diagram is used and then to select the k-best paths
Yen’s algorithm is adopted. Finally, to make the path flyable
and of equal length for all the fixed-wing UAVs, an innovative
approach is adopted here for simultaneous rendezvous. By
ensuring time optimal rendezvous, it holds applicability for
several time-critical missions, such as, carrying out surgical
strikes and pre-emptive attack for suppression of enemy
defense.
I. INTRODUCTION

In the last few decades, there has been a dramatic difference

in the attitude of both researchers and common crowd
towards Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) because of its
several civilians, military and commercial applications and
this resulted in major progression in the field of autonomous
robotics in 3-dimensional (3D) space. For many of such
54 pt applications, multi-UAVs deployment is required for
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improving mission success probability. In several of these
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missions, the environment in which the multi-UAVs operate
is filled with obstacles, such as, buildings, trees, elevated
grounds or other moving vehicles. So, target allocation,
collision avoidance, and feasible path generation considering
vehicle’s dynamics are important areas to be focused upon.
Fixed-wing UAVs are mostly used for long-distance, long-
range and high-altitude missions. Hence, surviving in longer
duration mission, the generated path should also be the
optimal one, which also saves the energy consumption to
some extent.
This motivates us to generate a smooth flyable path for
time-optimal simultaneous rendezvous of multi-UAVs at a
target location in 3D space cluttered with obstacles. The
similar problem in 2-dimensional (2D) case assuming UAVs
are moving at constant altitude has been discussed in [1]. But
as the real-world problems demand the UAVs to be operated
at different altitudes, in this work the mission field is
considered in 3D space as shown in Fig. 1. Here, M number
of UAVs are required to reach the Target location
simultaneously in minimum time avoiding N number of static
obstacles.
The first step to address this problem is target allocation
based on the factors such as distance between the UAV and
*Research supported by Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
Bibhash Chandra Mitra is with the Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur, West Bengal, PO 721302, India (e-mail:
bibhashm220896@gmail.com)
Sikha Hota is with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West
Bengal, PO 721302, India (e-mail: sikhahota@aero.iitkgp.ernet.in)
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Figure 1: Mission Field 0.75 in
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The next step is to generate some possible paths from the
UAV’s current position to the target avoiding obstacles and
maintaining certain safety parameters. For this purpose,
Voronoi diagram [3] is used to generate an initial set of
connected waypoint segments in the 3D space, ensuring an
optimal clearance to avoid collisions with obstacles or
grounding. To generate waypoint segments in an obstacle-
filled environment, the alternative approaches can be RRT -
connect [4], [5] and [6]. The other well-cited approach to
avoid obstacles in a cluttered environment is potential field
method [7].
There can be several ways by which UAV’s current
location and goal location can be connected following
waypoint segments generated by Voronoi diagram. A set of k-
best paths can be selected for each UAV so that simultaneous
rendezvous of the multi-UAVs system can be achieved by
making path lengths equal. In [8], a modified Eppstein’s
algorithm capable of loop-less trajectory generation along
with Dijkstra’s algorithm [9] is used for K-best path selection.
An alternate approach using A* algorithm [10] with
Eppstein’s algorithm is proposed in [11]. In this paper Yen’s
algorithm [12] is combined with Dijkstra’s algorithm for
selection of k-best paths in 3D without loop formation. But
these paths are not flyable by fixed-wing UAVs because of
the sharp change of orientation angles at the joining point of
two segments.
To make the paths flyable the transition portion of the
waypoint segments should be made smooth; but to do so the
smooth path should not go very far from the related waypoint,

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which may lead to a collision with obstacles. In the present
work, the concept adopted in [13] has been used for
smoothing the k-best paths in 3D. In literature, for creating
flyable paths for turn-rate constraint vehicles, a large number
of works [14], [15], [16] use Dubin's path [17]. The other
popular approaches for generating continuous flyable paths
are to use splines [18], clothoid arcs [19], [20], and
Pythagorean hodograph [21].
As mentioned earlier, simultaneous arrival to a target
location is very important for time-critical missions to
increase the mission success probability. A Pythagorean
hodograph is used for simultaneous rendezvous in [21] and
with imperfect communications between vehicles, the
rendezvous problem is addressed in [22]. The standard
dynamic models of the UAV and UGV are used in [23] for
achieving an optimal rendezvous for a UAV with a UGV for
refuelling. The main contribution of the current work is to
achieve simultaneous rendezvous by increasing the path
lengths of other UAVs to match with the path length of the
UAV with maximum path lengths in a particular group. By
making the optimal transitions between consecutive waypoint
segments the paths are made time-optimal.
II. SOLUTION APPROACH
A. Waypoint Generation
As stated, assuming target assignment has already been
done, the first step is to create some possible paths from the
54 pt UAV to the target, keeping in account that the path should not
0.75 in collide with any of the obstacles present. A Voronoi diagram
19.1 mm in 3D is created to divide the space into polyhedrons, edges of
which serve as possible paths for the UAV to follow as it is
the optimum distance that the flight can maintain from the
obstacles. In the present scenario, the Voronoi sites are the
positions of the UAVs, obstacles and the target and using this
information a Voronoi diagram is created to generate the
waypoint segments.
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without Voronoi diagrams so that it can be visualized
properly.
B. K - Best Path Selection
To select K-best paths, Yen’s algorithm is used as it is one
of the most efficient algorithms to find K-best loopless paths
from a fixed node to all other nodes. This algorithm requires
2n2 additions and n2 comparisons and is lesser than any other
available algorithms. A brief overview of this algorithm is
given below:
The algorithm consists of two lists, the first list SPs for
determining the initial k-shortest paths and the second list SPP
for storing other potential shortest path candidates. To
determine SPs1, the shortest path from the source to the sink,
any efficient shortest path algorithm can be used such as
Dijkstra’s algorithm. Then the idea that the kth shortest paths
may share edges and sub-paths (path from source to any
intermediary nodes within the route) from (k-1)th shortest path
is used. For using this concept the (k-1)th shortest path is taken
and each node in the route is made unreachable in turn, i.e.
particular edges are rubbed off that goes to the node within
the route. Once that particular node is unreachable, the
shortest path is searched from the preceding node to the
destination. Then a new route is created by appending the
common sub-path (from source to the preceding node of the
unreachable node) and the new shortest path is added from
preceding node to the destination. This route is then added to
the list SPP, provided that it is not present or ever added to list
SPs or list SPP before. After repeating this for all nodes in the 54 pt
route, one needs to find the shortest route in list SPP and 0.75 in
move that to list SPs. This whole process is repeated k times 19.1 mm
to get all the paths.
III. TRAJECTORY GENERATION
The objective of this section is to generate time-optimal
trajectories which are flyable for fixed-wing UAVs. The turn
rate constraint is included for the path generation as a fixed-
wing UAV cannot make a sharp turn. The other constraint
considered here is the limitation on the maximum distance
between the waypoint and the UAV while taking turns to take
care of the limited capacity of the sensor placed on it.
Using [13], a complete mechanism is developed to satisfy
the constraints and to generate time-optimal trajectory. For
convenience, the same notations as used in [13] is used. The
minimum radius for turning in a plane that is inclined at an
angle θ with respect to the x-y plane is given by:
va2 (1)
r
g  sin T  K  sin T  1
2 2

Here, r is the minimum turn radius, θ is the angle that the
turning plane makes with the horizontal plane, η is the load
Figure 2: Voronoi diagram for our mission
factor, g is the gravitational constant and va is the airspeed.

The Fig. 2 shows the Voronoi diagram consisting of 30 For three waypoints w1, w2 and w3, the unit vectors along
points where three points represent three UAVs, one point is these two waypoints segments are denoted by q1 and q2,
for the target and other 26 points represent obstacles. For respectively. So,
convenience purposes, we will show the rest of the figures

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w2  w1 w3  w2 (2.a)
q1 ; q2
w2  w1 w3  w2
Let β denote the absolute value of the angle between q2 and
−q1, that is, β = cos−1(−q2Tq1) (3.b)
If a simple trajectory which is made by one turn of
minimum turn radius (Fig. 3) is followed the starting (X0s)
and finishing point (Xfs) on the waypoint segment would be,
§ · § · (4)
¨ r ¸ ¨ r ¸
X 0 s w2  ¨ ¸ q1; X fs w2  ¨ ¸ q2
¨ tan E ¸ ¨ tan E ¸
© 2¹ © 2¹
The unit vector perpendicular to the plane made by these two
consecutive segments is
Figure 3: Simple trajectory with minimum radius turn
q1 u q2 (5)
u
q1 u q2 At a point X0γ, the first circle is tangent to q1 which is at a
distance d1γ from w2, where,
The unit radius vector from X0s towards the centre of the
circular turn is r (11)
d1J
y = u × q1 (6) tan E1
Using vector algebra, we get,
The centre of the circular turn is
X0γ = w2 − d1γq1 (12)
O = X0s + ry (7)
The unit radius vector (y1) from X0γ towards the centre of the
Let the closest point (Ps) on the trajectory from the waypoint first circular turn (O1γ) is,
w2 be at a distance ds away, where
54 pt y1 = −q1 × u (13) 54 pt
ds = ||w2 − O|| − r (8)
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Where u is obtained from Eq. 4. Using vector algebra, we
19.1 mm Note: As mentioned in [13] if two consecutive waypoint can get,
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segments make a very acute angle then the smooth path
following the simple trajectory deviates far from the mid- O1γ = X0γ + ry1 (14)
waypoint, which increases the chances of collision with the
obstacles. To overcome this problem a γ-trajectory The angular value for which the manoeuvre takes place,
constructed using two circles instead of one is used, which § d  w2 , O1J  sin  E  E1   r · (15)
passes through a specified distance from the associated TJ cos1 ¨ ¸
waypoint. ¨ 2r ¸
© ¹
1) γ1 trajectory At Xfγ the second circle is tangent to the second waypoint
(q2), which is at a distance of d2γ from the waypoint w2. So,
Trajectory 1, known as γ1 trajectory, generates an optimal
path and also is parameterized by γ to allow dynamic change d2γ = d (w2, O1γ) cos (β − β1) + 2r sin (θγ) (16)
of trajectory. The value of parameter γ ranges between 0 and
Xfγ = w2 + q2d2γ (17)
1. The trajectory is generated using two mutually tangent
circles which are tangent to the two waypoint segments The unit radius vector (y2) from Xfγ towards the centre of the
respectively for values of γ above 0, while a single circle is second circular turn (O2γ) is
required for γ value equal for 1 (Fig. 4). The trajectory can be
y2 = −q2 × u (18)
derived as:
The distance between w2 and the centre of the first The centre of the second circular turn is,
circular turn (O1γ) is given by,
O2γ = Xfγ − ry2 (19)
d (w2, O1γ) = dγ + r (9)
Using these two circular turns centred at O1γ and O2γ,
Let β1 be the angle between the line joining w2 and O1γ and respectively, the desired γ1 trajectory can be computed.
q1. So,
§ r · (10)
E1 sin 1 ¨ ¸
¨ d  w2 , O1J  ¸
© ¹

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Figure 4: γ1 trajectory Figure 5: γ2 trajectory

2
2) γ trajectory The unit radius vector (y2) from Xfγ towards the centre of the
Trajectory 2 or γ2 trajectory is like the case of γ1 second circular turn (O2γ) is
trajectory except that here the position of circles is reversed y2 = −q1 × u (29)
(Fig. 5). The formulation of this trajectory is derived below.
The distance between w2 and the centre of the first circular The centre of the second circular turn is,
turn (O1γ) is given by, O2γ = X0γ − ry2 (30)
d (w2, O1γ) = dγ + r (20) Using these two circular turns centred at O1γ and O2γ,
Let the angle between the line joining w2 and O1γ and q1 be respectively, the desired γ -trajectory can be computed.
β1, 3) Loop Trajectory
54 pt § r · (21) In the looping trajectory, the transition occurs at the point 54 pt
0.75 in E1 sin 1 ¨ ¸ 0.75 in
¨ d  w2 , O1J  ¸ of intersection of the two-line segments i.e. the mid-
19.1 mm © ¹ waypoint (Fig. 6). This trajectory uses three mutually tangent
19.1 mm

The γ2 trajectory leaves the first waypoint segment at a point circles of which two are tangent to the two waypoint
X0γ which is at a distance d1γ from w2, where, segments respectively. Once the UAV reaches point w2, it
follows those three circles to reach w2 again but the direction
r (22) vector changes from q1 to q2.
d1J
tan E1
The unit vector perpendicular to q1 and q2 are:
Now, Xfγ can be obtained as follows.
q2 u u q1 u u (31)
l1 ; l2
Xfγ = w2 + d1γq1 (23) q2 u u q1 u u
The unit radius vector (y1) from X0γ towards the centre of the
The centres of the first and third circular turn are:
first circular turn (O1γ) is
O1 = w2 + r l2 ; O2= w2 + r l1 (32)
y1 = −q2 × u (24)
Half of the distance between the centres of these circles is
Where u is obtained from Eq. 4. The centre of the first
circular turn is O2  O1 (33)
d
2
O1γ = Xfγ + ry1 (25)
The third unit vector that is the angle bisector of l1 and l2 is
The angular value for which the manoeuvre takes place,
  l2  l1  (34)
§ d  w2 , O1J  sin  E  E1   r · (26) l3
TJ cos ¨
1
¸ 2
¨ 2r ¸
© ¹ The distance of the third circle from w2 is
At X0γ the second circle is tangent to q2 which is at a distance (35)
of d2γ from the waypoint w2. So, d2 4r 2  d 2  r 2  d 2

d2γ = d (w2, O1γ) cos (β − β1) + 2r sin (θγ) (27) The centre of the third circular turn:

X0γ = w2 – q1d2γ (28) O3 = w2 + d2 l3 (36)

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Figure 6: Loop trajectory
Using these two circular turns centred at O1, O2 and O3,
respectively, the desired trajectory can be computed.
B. Algorithm for Selecting the Transition Trajectory
1. Enter the total number of waypoints (n ≥ 3) and
coordinates of them (w1, w2, w3, · · ·, wn).
2. Enter all the necessary UAV data which includes
airspeed (va), maximum load factor, sensor capacity
(dsensor).
3. Initialize ni = 1, where ‘i’ is the number of
54 pt combinations of three waypoints from start to finish.
0.75 in
19.1 mm 4. Compute the minimum turn radius for the UAV at the
plane formed by w1, w2 and w3 using Eq. 1.
5. Compute the length of the first segment (d12) and the
length of the second waypoint segment (d23).
6. Compute ds that is the shortest distance between the
simple trajectory and the associated waypoint using
Eq. 7.
7. (a) If d12 ≥ (r/ tan(β/2)) and d23 ≥ (r/ tan(β/2))
i. If ds ≤ dsensor, the transition trajectory is of simple
type.
ii. Else if d23 ≥ d2γ ((Eq. 15) updating with dγ =
dsensor), the transition trajectory is of γ1 type with
the value of dγ = dsensor.
iii. Else if d12 ≥ d1γ ((Eq. 10) updating with dγ =
dsensor) and d23 < d2γ ((Eq. 15) updating with dγ =
dsensor), the transition trajectory is of γ2 type with
the value of dγ = dsensor.
iv. Else the trajectory is of loop type.
(b) Else if d12 < (r/tan(β/2)) and d23 > (r/ tan(β/2))
i. If d12 ≥ d1γ ((Eq. 10) updating with dγ = dsensor) and
d23 ≥ d2γ ((Eq. 15) updating with dγ = dsensor), the
transition trajectory is of γ1 type with the value of
dγ = dsensor.
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ii. Else if d12 < d1γ ((Eq. 10) updating with dγ =
dsensor) and d23 ≥ d2γ ((Eq. 15) updating with dγ =
1
d122  r 2  r ), the transition trajectory is of γ type
with the value of dγ = d122  r 2  r ).
iii. Else the trajectory is of loop type.
(c) Else if d12 > (r/tan(β/2)) and d23 < (r/ tan(β/2)),
i. If d12 ≥ d2γ ((Eq. 15) updating with dγ = dsensor) and
d23 ≥ d1γ ((Eq. 10) updating with dγ = dsensor), the
transition trajectory is of γ2 type with the value dγ
= dsensor.
ii. Else if d12 ≥ d2γ, ((Eq. 15) updating with dγ =
d 232  r 2  r )) and d23 < d1γ ((Eq. 10) updating
with dγ = dsensor), the transition trajectory is of γ2
type with the value of dγ = d 232  r 2  r ).
iii. Else the trajectory is of loop type.
(d) Else, the transition trajectory is of loop type.
8. Compute the transition trajectory following the
methods described in Section 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3.
9. If ni = n−2 exit, else get the point of convergence
(wc) on the second waypoint segment (joining w2
and w3). Set ni = ni +1, w1 = wc and go to step 4.
Fig. 7 shows one smooth path from the current 54 pt
location of UAV 2 to the target location. 0.75 in
19.1 mm
Figure 7: After trajectory selection
C. Simultaneous Rendezvous
Assuming that UAVs move with a constant speed
simultaneous rendezvous can be achieved by making equal
path lengths for all UAVs. Following steps will be followed
to make path lengths equal.
1. After smoothing, the path length of all the k-best
paths from UAVs to the target are calculated.
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2. All the individual path lengths, the coordinates of w1, Table 2 K- Best Paths for UAV 1
w2, w3, type of trajectory, gamma value and number
_________________________________________________
of loops are stored in cells for all the UAVs.
Sl. Length Selected Path
3. The reference path will be selected as the longest No____________________(The numbers indicate the selected node index)______
among all the shortest ones. Now the objective is to 1st: 38.96 1 95 102 101 89 103 119
match the path lengths of other UAVs to this UAV. 2nd: 42.32 1 95 102 78 101 89 103 119
For other UAVs, the path with length less than or 3rd: 42.90 1 95 102 101 89 111 119
equal to the reference path is chosen. 4th: 44.66 1 95 102 101 106 65 89 103 119
5th: 45.07 1 95 102 101 89 103 111 119
4. Following steps were applied to increase the path
_________________________________________________
length to the reference length (Fig. 8):
a. The value of γ for γ2 trajectory (wherever Table 3 K- Best Paths for UAV 2
applicable) was sequentially decreased for each _________________________________________________
individual turn until the required increment was Sl. Length Selected Path
met or if all the gamma values become 0. No ________________(The numbers indicate the selected node index)_______
1st: 53.50 1 38 51 8 41 46 15 119
b. If there was still increment required, the 2nd: 53.56 1 5 38 51 8 41 46 15 119
numbers of complete circular turns were 3rd: 53.56 1 39 38 51 8 41 46 15 119
increased (if loops are present). 4th: 53.61 1 39 5 38 51 8 41 46 15 119
c. If there were no loops present, then it is checked 5th: 53.74 1 5 39 38 51 8 41 46 15 119
for the possibilities of converting any γ1 _________________________________________________
trajectory into a looping trajectory.
Table 4 K- Best Paths for UAV 3
_________________________________________________
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Sl. Length Selected Path
For simulation purpose the mission field is the same as No ________________(The numbers indicate the selected node index)_______
shown in Fig. 1 with three UAVs, random locations of 1st: 43.76 1 38 51 8 41 46 15 119
obstacles and the target. Voronoi diagram is generated for 2nd: 45.72 1 5 38 51 8 41 46 15 119
54 pt 54 pt
0.75 in this field and then Yes’s algorithm is applied to get five best 3rd: 47.11 1 39 38 51 8 41 46 15 119 0.75 in
19.1 mm paths (Fig. 9) which are tabulated in Table 2, 3 and 4 for 4th: 47.54 1 39 5 38 51 8 41 46 15 119 19.1 mm
UAV 1, UAV 2 and UAV3, respectively. 5th: 47.60 1 5 39 38 51 8 41 46 15 119
_______________________________________________

After the application of curve smoothing and trajectory

selection technique (Sec. 3), 5 flyable paths are generated for
each UAV as shown in Fig. 10 and the path lengths are
tabulated in Table 5. The reference path will be of the
maximum value of the minimum lengths for all UAVs and
from Table 5, it is seen that this value is 53.45 units, which is
the shortest path for UAV2. Next, 5th paths from UAV 1 and
4th path from UAV3 are elongated as these path lengths are
with low value but close to 53.45 units, following the
flowchart is shown in Fig. 8 simultaneous rendezvous is
achieved. The final paths to achieve simultaneous
rendezvous are shown in Fig. 11 and the path lengths are
summarized in Table 6.
Table 5 –Lengths of the K-best paths after smoothing
_________________________________________________
UAV Length of the path after smoothing___________
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
_________________________________________________
UAV 1 38.28 41.49 42.47 44.19 44.27
UAV 2 53.45 62.27 58.83 69.15 69.09
UAV 3 43.42 44.59 45.98 46.77 55.85
_________________________________________________
Figure 8: Flow chart to increase the path length

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Table 6 –Simultaneous Rendezvous

_______________________________________________
UAV Path Initial Final Error / (%)
_________________________________________________
UAV 1 5th path: 44.27 53.68 0.23units/0.437%
UAV 2 1st path: 53.45 53.45 0.00 units/0.00 %
UAV 3 4th path: 46.77 53.46 0.01 units / 0.02%
_________________________________________________

V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

In this work, two-dimensional coordinated target intercept
problem of [1] has been extended to three-dimensional space
considering the altitude variations of UAVs, which is a
requirement if real-life applications are considered. Voronoi
diagram has been used to generate obstacle-free waypoint
segments starting from the UAV’s current location to the
Figure 9: K-Best paths for UAVs goal location and then using Yen’s algorithm K-best paths
have been selected. The time-optimal rendezvous has been
obtained by several improvisations made in path selection,
time over target (ToT), and curve smoothing.
This work currently assumes the obstacles to be point
objects or spheres with very small radius, but it can be
extended to a more real-life scenario with large radius
obstacles like buildings or other UAVs. The work is also
based on the assumption that the obstacles are static, but the
much more challenging case would be to consider dynamic
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obstacles. Trajectory tracking for this mission scenario 54 pt
0.75 in considering the dynamics of UAVs is the other future 0.75 in
19.1 mm directions to be looked upon. 19.1 mm

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54 pt
0.75 in
19.1 mm