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Case-Oriented Paper

Devising a quick-running heuristic for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) routing system

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Pages 776-786 | Received 01 Jul 2003, Accepted 01 Jul 2004, Published online: 21 Dec 2017
 

Abstract

UAVs provide reconnaissance support for the US military and often need operational routes immediately; current practice involves manual route calculation that can involve hundreds of targets and a complex set of operational restrictions. Our research focused on providing an operational UAV routing system. This system required development of a reasonably effective, quick running routing heuristic. We present the statistical methodology used to devise a quick-running routing heuristic that provides reasonable solutions. We consider three candidate local search heuristic approaches, conduct an empirical analysis to parameterize each heuristic, competitively test each candidate heuristic, and provide statistical analysis on the performance of each candidate heuristic to include comparison of the results of the best candidate heuristic against a compilation of the best-known solutions for standard test problems. Our heuristic is a component of the final UAV routing system and provides the UAV operators a tool to perform their route development tasks quickly and efficiently.

DisclaimerThe views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the US Government.

DisclaimerThe views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the US Government.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the United States Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab, under the able guidance of Dr Mark O'Hair. We thank the anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions that improved the quality of the paper.

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