Controlling moving targets by using unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

Nowadays, one of the most important environmental problems is vessel source marine pollution. Developed countries are using high-tech satellites and radar systems to identify the pollution caused by ships. On the other hand, countries having lack of similar systems are selecting way of manned air systems to prove pollution. However, considering its low investment and operational cost, unmanned air vehicles (UAV) for identifying marine pollution is getting to be preferred. Considering that the ships are changing their position dynamically, the problem of controlling them turns out to be tracing of moving targets, which makes it harder for a UAV to figure out how to plan its route dynamically. In this study, it is aimed to design and implement an algorithm to solve dynamic UAV route planning problem with respect to both given specific area and time interval in order to detect polluting ships. Experimental studies show that the proposed algorithm is both applicable and it yields feasible results at hand.