A High-Speed UUVs Search Trajectory Planning Scheme with a Target Distribution Fitting Method

High-speed UUVs need precise target information to complete search missions, but the target information is not perfect as it is not continuous or with high-level accuracy. To promote the efficiency of underwater search missions, different from traditional fixed-graph searching trajectory or waypoint path planning, this paper proposes a target distribution-based planning scheme for high-speed UUVs providing fast planning and intelligent searching ability. The main contributions of this paper are divided into two parts. First, the characteristic of the moving target is modeled into its distribution of position to time, which provides a guideline for offline optimization and online reactive planning. Then a parameterized graph searching trajectory is developed, which maintains the expert knowledge in particular graph searching trajectory and leads to a light-weighted reactively online execution. Finally, this method is applied to a multiple high-speed UUV searching mission, each single high-speed UUV can independently perform an intelligent search with acceptable calculation after a proper task allocation. The result shows the effectiveness of this planning scheme.