Motion Planning for an Autonomous Helicopter in a GPS-Denied Environment

The paper is focused on the development of algorithms for motion planning of an autonomous helicopter in a GPS-denied environment. Methods for determining the location of the helicopter, during the flight, are presented. The methodology is based on a lightweight laser range finder as a sole onboard sensor. The sensor reading interpretation are combined with various path planning algorithms according to the vehicle-environment size ratio. Two different environments are studied: a tight environment where travel distances and obstacle dimensions are in the order of the rotor diameter, and an open environment where obstacles are much larger than the rotor diameters. For each environment, two cases are considered: a case where the map of the environment is entirely known a priory, and a case where obstacles are discovered during the flight.