Transition Trajectory Planning for a VTOL Morphing UAV Based on Improved Pigeon-Inspired Optimization

This paper proposes an improved pigeon-inspired optimization (IPIO) to solve the transition trajectory planning problem for a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) morphing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Firstly, the dynamic model of the morphing aircraft is constructed. To ensure the stability and safety of the morphing aircraft during the transition process, a transition corridor of aircraft is established, which considers the dynamic changes of the flight speed and flight-path angle. And the trajectory optimization problem is constructed. Secondly, an IPIO algorithm is designed by combing the reverse learning strategy with the mutation and crossover operation to solve the problem that the pigeon-inspired optimization (PIO) can easily fall into local optimal due to premature convergence. Finally, a comparative simulation of IPIO and PIO is performed on the above-mentioned optimization mentioned above. Simulation results show that more optimal efficiency and engineering value of IPIO is shown to solve the complexly constrained optimization problems.