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Main Authors: Fuertes, Daniel, del-Blanco, Carlos R., Jaureguizar, Fernando, Navarro-Corcuera, Juan José, García, Narciso
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.16962
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author Fuertes, Daniel
del-Blanco, Carlos R.
Jaureguizar, Fernando
Navarro-Corcuera, Juan José
García, Narciso
author_facet Fuertes, Daniel
del-Blanco, Carlos R.
Jaureguizar, Fernando
Navarro-Corcuera, Juan José
García, Narciso
contents Generating trajectories for synthetic aperture radar (SAR)-equipped aircraft poses significant challenges due to terrain constraints, and the need for straight-flight segments to ensure high-quality imaging. Related works usually focus on trajectory optimization for predefined straight-flight segments that do not adapt to the target visibility, which depends on the 3D terrain and aircraft orientation. In addition, this assumption does not scale well for the multi-target problem, where multiple straight-flight segments that maximize target visibility must be defined for real-time operations. For this purpose, this paper presents a multi-stage planning system. First, the waypoint sequencing to visit all the targets is estimated. Second, straight-flight segments maximizing target visibility according to the 3D terrain are predicted using a novel neural network trained with deep reinforcement learning. Finally, the segments are connected to create a trajectory via optimization that imposes 3D Dubins curves. Evaluations demonstrate the robustness of the system for SAR missions since it ensures high-quality multi-target SAR image acquisition aware of 3D terrain and target visibility, and real-time performance.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_16962
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Multi-stage Planning for Multi-target Surveillance using Aircrafts Equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radars Aware of Target Visibility
Fuertes, Daniel
del-Blanco, Carlos R.
Jaureguizar, Fernando
Navarro-Corcuera, Juan José
García, Narciso
Robotics
Artificial Intelligence
Generating trajectories for synthetic aperture radar (SAR)-equipped aircraft poses significant challenges due to terrain constraints, and the need for straight-flight segments to ensure high-quality imaging. Related works usually focus on trajectory optimization for predefined straight-flight segments that do not adapt to the target visibility, which depends on the 3D terrain and aircraft orientation. In addition, this assumption does not scale well for the multi-target problem, where multiple straight-flight segments that maximize target visibility must be defined for real-time operations. For this purpose, this paper presents a multi-stage planning system. First, the waypoint sequencing to visit all the targets is estimated. Second, straight-flight segments maximizing target visibility according to the 3D terrain are predicted using a novel neural network trained with deep reinforcement learning. Finally, the segments are connected to create a trajectory via optimization that imposes 3D Dubins curves. Evaluations demonstrate the robustness of the system for SAR missions since it ensures high-quality multi-target SAR image acquisition aware of 3D terrain and target visibility, and real-time performance.
title Multi-stage Planning for Multi-target Surveillance using Aircrafts Equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radars Aware of Target Visibility
topic Robotics
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.16962