Publication

Modeling & Simulation, Testing & Validation (MSTV)
2019

THE EFFECTS OF OBSTACLE DIMENSIONAL UNCERTAINTY ON PATH PLANNING IN CLUTTERED ENVIRONMENTS

by Seth Tau; Sean Brennan; Karl Reichard; Jesse Pentzer; David Gorsich

Abstract

This work investigates the effects of obstacle uncertainty on the speed, distance, and feasibility of a planned traversal path. Simulation results for artificial and real-world environments are used to numerically quantify how geometric uncertainty within a map affects path traversal cost. A significant outcome of this research is the discovery of a relationship between increasing uncertainty and path cost. As obstacle uncertainty increases, previously planned routes can become infeasible as they effectively become blocked off due to uncertainty in the obstacle geometry. This paper illustrates a method that can serve to increase the speed, simplicity, and reliability of path planning, while allowing uncertainty to be included in the mobility analysis.