Leveraging Lazy Theta* Path Planning for UAV Pseudospectral Trajectory Optimization Initialization

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of initial guesses on trajectory planning for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) formulated in terms of the optimal control problem (OCP). The OCP is solved numerically using the pseudospectral collocation method. Our approach leverages a path identified through Lazy Theta* and incorporates known constraints and a model of the UAV's behavior for the initial guess. Our findings indicate that a suitable initial guess has a beneficial influence on the planned trajectory and suggests promising directions for future research.