Interactive path planning for multi-equipment landfill operations

A methodology and several algorithms for interactive motion planning are developed for multi-equipment landfill operations in an automated landfill system (ALS). A system for establishing ALS is also proposed in the paper. To develop a multi-truck/multi-compactor ALS, the major problems can be classified into three principal categories: (1) navigation system for multiple devices, (2) job-site geometric model, and (3) instantaneous motion planning and control system for equipment in the work site. To solve the problems from the three categories, this paper will present a methodology to simulate the operational processes of landfill vehicles and equipment in pre-planning a landfill project as well as finding efficient and collision-free motion patterns to control autonomous landfill equipment during the construction phase. Furthermore, by linking this system to a global positioning system (GPS), the efficient traffic routing and collision-free path for each piece of equipment can be calculated by using real-time positional data acquisition in a 3-D geometric model of a landfill site.