A New Approach to Motion Planning in 3D for a Dubins Vehicle: Special Case on a Sphere

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Main Authors: Kumar, Deepak Prakash, Darbha, Swaroop, Manyam, Satyanarayana Gupta, Casbeer, David
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kumar, Deepak Prakash
Darbha, Swaroop
Manyam, Satyanarayana Gupta
Casbeer, David
author_facet Kumar, Deepak Prakash
Darbha, Swaroop
Manyam, Satyanarayana Gupta
Casbeer, David
contents In this article, a new model for 3D motion planning, applicable to aerial vehicles, is proposed to connect an initial and final configuration subject to pitch rate and yaw rate constraints. The motion planning problem for a curvature-constrained vehicle over the surface of a sphere is identified as an intermediary problem to be solved, and it is the focus of this paper. In this article, the optimal path candidates for a vehicle with a minimum turning radius $r$ moving over a unit sphere are derived using a phase portrait approach. We show that the optimal path is $CGC$ or concatenations of $C$ segments through simple proofs, where $C = L, R$ denotes a turn of radius $r$ and $G$ denotes a great circular arc. We generalize the previous result of optimal paths being $CGC$ and $CCC$ paths for $r \in \left(0, \frac{1}{2} \right]\bigcup\{\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\}$ to $r \leq \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}$ to account for vehicles with a larger $r$. We show that the optimal path is $CGC, CCCC,$ for $r \leq \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}},$ and $CGC, CC_πC, CCCCC$ for $r \leq \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}.$ Additionally, we analytically construct all candidate paths and provide the code in a publicly accessible repository.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_01215
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A New Approach to Motion Planning in 3D for a Dubins Vehicle: Special Case on a Sphere
Kumar, Deepak Prakash
Darbha, Swaroop
Manyam, Satyanarayana Gupta
Casbeer, David
Optimization and Control
In this article, a new model for 3D motion planning, applicable to aerial vehicles, is proposed to connect an initial and final configuration subject to pitch rate and yaw rate constraints. The motion planning problem for a curvature-constrained vehicle over the surface of a sphere is identified as an intermediary problem to be solved, and it is the focus of this paper. In this article, the optimal path candidates for a vehicle with a minimum turning radius $r$ moving over a unit sphere are derived using a phase portrait approach. We show that the optimal path is $CGC$ or concatenations of $C$ segments through simple proofs, where $C = L, R$ denotes a turn of radius $r$ and $G$ denotes a great circular arc. We generalize the previous result of optimal paths being $CGC$ and $CCC$ paths for $r \in \left(0, \frac{1}{2} \right]\bigcup\{\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\}$ to $r \leq \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}$ to account for vehicles with a larger $r$. We show that the optimal path is $CGC, CCCC,$ for $r \leq \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}},$ and $CGC, CC_πC, CCCCC$ for $r \leq \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}.$ Additionally, we analytically construct all candidate paths and provide the code in a publicly accessible repository.
title A New Approach to Motion Planning in 3D for a Dubins Vehicle: Special Case on a Sphere
topic Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.01215