A multiple vehicle path covering problem with localization constraints: Formulation and algorithms

Most of the multiple vehicle path planning algorithms that arise in surveillance applications in the literature currently rely on the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) information. However, intentional and unintentional interference in both military and civil scenarios can easily disrupt the GPS signals, and as a result, render the path planning algorithms not applicable. This article provides a new way of addressing this difficulty by combining techniques from cooperative localization and path planning. Specifically, this article formulates two fundamental problems related to path planning of vehicles in GPS denied environments and provides novel algorithms to solve the same. Simulation results are also presented to corroborate the performance of the proposed algorithms.