Operational planning for multiple heterogeneous unmanned aerial vehicles in three dimensions
Name
549278958-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
27.97 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
2c4a59195e72436351a07396d7b173dd
Author(s)
Negron, Blair Ellen Leake
Advisor(s)
Stephan E. Kolitz and Hamsa Balakrishnan.
Date Issued
2009
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Unmanned aerial vehicles are being incorporated in an increasing variety of operations. To take full advantage of the vehicles, the plans for the operations should integrate each vehicle's capabilities when planning the operations. This thesis focuses on planning operations for multiple, heterogeneous UAVs for the purpose of monitoring Earth's phenomena through data collection. The planning is done for flight in three dimensions. The problem also includes time window constraints for data collection and incorporates human input in the planning process. Two solution methods are presented: (1) a mixed-integer program, and (2) an algorithm that utilizes a meta-heuristic to generate composite variables for a linear program, called the Composite Operations Planning Algorithm. The suitability of the two methods to solve the operations planning problem is compared based on the ability of each of the methods to find high-value, feasible solutions for large-scale, operationally sized problems in a reasonable amount of time. The analysis shows that the Composite Operations Planning Algorithm can develop operations plans for problems including 15 UAVs and 5000 nodes in less than 25 minutes using a desktop computer.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center, 2009.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-135).
Subjects
Operations Research Center.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Operations Research Center
Sloan School of Management
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