Q-learning global path planning for UAV navigation with pondered priorities

The process of path planning plays a crucial role in enabling self-directed movement, particularly for unmanned aerial vehicles. This involves accommodating diverse priorities, such as route length, safety, and energy efficiency. Traditional techniques, including geometric and dynamic programming, h...

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Main Authors: Kevin B. de Carvalho, Hiago de O.B. Batista, Leonardo A. Fagundes-Junior, Iure Rosa L. de Oliveira, Alexandre S. Brandão
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Intelligent Systems with Applications
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667305325000110
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author Kevin B. de Carvalho
Hiago de O.B. Batista
Leonardo A. Fagundes-Junior
Iure Rosa L. de Oliveira
Alexandre S. Brandão
author_facet Kevin B. de Carvalho
Hiago de O.B. Batista
Leonardo A. Fagundes-Junior
Iure Rosa L. de Oliveira
Alexandre S. Brandão
author_sort Kevin B. de Carvalho
collection DOAJ
description The process of path planning plays a crucial role in enabling self-directed movement, particularly for unmanned aerial vehicles. This involves accommodating diverse priorities, such as route length, safety, and energy efficiency. Traditional techniques, including geometric and dynamic programming, have historically been employed to address this challenge. However, recent years have testified to an increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence methodologies such as reinforcement learning. This study introduces a novel approach to offline path planning in static environments, utilizing Q-learning as its foundation. The method optimizes three pivotal factors: path length, safety, and energy consumption. By effectively balancing exploration and exploitation, this technique enables an autonomous agent to efficiently navigate from any initial point to a specified destination on the map. To evaluate the proposed strategy’s effectiveness, extensive simulations are conducted across diverse environments. A comparative analysis with three established strategies showcases the algorithm’s proficiency in generating feasible routes. The user can freely tailor the system’s priorities by modifying each of their weights prior to training. Additionally, scalability tests reveal the algorithm’s swift convergence, achieving stability within just 35 s for larger environments spanning up to 40 × 40 units. To further validate the proposed approach, both simulations and real-world experiments are employed, collectively demonstrating its performance and applicability.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2667-3053
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Intelligent Systems with Applications
spelling doaj-art-2e81b341ac814aa3b1fa7017c41967252025-02-07T04:48:31ZengElsevierIntelligent Systems with Applications2667-30532025-03-0125200485Q-learning global path planning for UAV navigation with pondered prioritiesKevin B. de Carvalho0Hiago de O.B. Batista1Leonardo A. Fagundes-Junior2Iure Rosa L. de Oliveira3Alexandre S. Brandão4Graduate Program in Computer Science, Department of Informatics, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Av. dos Lagos 299, Campus Universitário, Viçosa, 36570-900, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Corresponding author.Graduate Program in Computer Science, Department of Informatics, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Av. dos Lagos 299, Campus Universitário, Viçosa, 36570-900, Minas Gerais, BrazilGraduate Program in Computer Science, Department of Informatics, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Av. dos Lagos 299, Campus Universitário, Viçosa, 36570-900, Minas Gerais, BrazilGraduate Program in Computer Science, Department of Informatics, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Av. dos Lagos 299, Campus Universitário, Viçosa, 36570-900, Minas Gerais, BrazilDepartment of Informatics, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Av. dos Lagos 299, Campus Universitário, Viçosa, 36570-900, Minas Gerais, BrazilThe process of path planning plays a crucial role in enabling self-directed movement, particularly for unmanned aerial vehicles. This involves accommodating diverse priorities, such as route length, safety, and energy efficiency. Traditional techniques, including geometric and dynamic programming, have historically been employed to address this challenge. However, recent years have testified to an increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence methodologies such as reinforcement learning. This study introduces a novel approach to offline path planning in static environments, utilizing Q-learning as its foundation. The method optimizes three pivotal factors: path length, safety, and energy consumption. By effectively balancing exploration and exploitation, this technique enables an autonomous agent to efficiently navigate from any initial point to a specified destination on the map. To evaluate the proposed strategy’s effectiveness, extensive simulations are conducted across diverse environments. A comparative analysis with three established strategies showcases the algorithm’s proficiency in generating feasible routes. The user can freely tailor the system’s priorities by modifying each of their weights prior to training. Additionally, scalability tests reveal the algorithm’s swift convergence, achieving stability within just 35 s for larger environments spanning up to 40 × 40 units. To further validate the proposed approach, both simulations and real-world experiments are employed, collectively demonstrating its performance and applicability.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667305325000110Mobile roboticsPath planningReinforcement learningQ-learning
spellingShingle Kevin B. de Carvalho
Hiago de O.B. Batista
Leonardo A. Fagundes-Junior
Iure Rosa L. de Oliveira
Alexandre S. Brandão
Q-learning global path planning for UAV navigation with pondered priorities
Intelligent Systems with Applications
Mobile robotics
Path planning
Reinforcement learning
Q-learning
title Q-learning global path planning for UAV navigation with pondered priorities
title_full Q-learning global path planning for UAV navigation with pondered priorities
title_fullStr Q-learning global path planning for UAV navigation with pondered priorities
title_full_unstemmed Q-learning global path planning for UAV navigation with pondered priorities
title_short Q-learning global path planning for UAV navigation with pondered priorities
title_sort q learning global path planning for uav navigation with pondered priorities
topic Mobile robotics
Path planning
Reinforcement learning
Q-learning
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667305325000110
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AT leonardoafagundesjunior qlearningglobalpathplanningforuavnavigationwithponderedpriorities
AT iurerosaldeoliveira qlearningglobalpathplanningforuavnavigationwithponderedpriorities
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