Real-time obstacle collision avoidance for fixed wing aircraft using B-splines

A real-time collision avoidance algorithm is developed based on parameterizing an optimal control problem with B-spline curves. The optimal control problem is formulated in output space rather than control or input space, this is feasible because ofthe differential flatness of the system for a fixed wing aircraft. The flat output trajectory is parameterized using a B-spline curve representation. In order to reduce the computational time of the optimal problem, the aircraft and obstacle constraints are augmented in the cost function using a penalty function method. The developed algorithm has been simulated and tested in MATLAB/Simulink.