UAS Flight Path Planning: A Comparative Analysis of Diverse Use Cases and Approaches

Abstract. Uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), also known as drones, have become increasingly popular in various applications due to their ability to access remote or challenging locations. A crucial aspect of UAS operations is flight path planning, which determines the trajectory the aircraft takes to achieve its mission objectives. However, the diverse use cases of UAS demand different planning approaches tailored to their specific requirements. This paper presents an overview over current research in UAS flight path planning and proposes a categorization of use cases based on their distinct goals and considerations. The terminology differentiates the goals of tasks between navigation-centric and data acquisition and also considers their context, domain, perspective, and sensors. We analyze existing approaches with a focus on UAS flight path planning for data acquisition using cameras, highlighting their strengths and limitations. This structured overview facilitates the understanding of the diverse landscape of UAS flight path planning and paves the way for the development of more targeted and effective solutions for various applications and their use cases. The analysis shows, that the term ”UAS flight path planning” is currently used in a variety of distinct use cases with diverging requirements, so a unified terminology should be established for clear communication.