Optimal Time-Window Based Formulation for Autonomous Vehicle Path Planning

This paper proposes a practical optimal-time window-based path-planning approach for a fleet of autonomous vehicles. Specifically, autonomous vehicles in this work refers to fleet of tractors that performs spraying operations in a vineyard field. The approach involves two main steps. In the first step based on a behavior and actions of the tractors that mimic manual spraying operations, a linear integer programming (ILP) optimization model is constructed. The second step then seeks a solution for this MIP model to obtain paths for autonomous navigation of the tractors in a vineyard field. The simulation results on a real-world data collected using Google Maps application for Sula vineyards located in the Nashik region [1] is reported. The obtained results show effectiveness of the proposal with respect to manual operator driven fleet management.