Algorithms for Dynamic 4D (3D space with time) Volumetric Calculations and Analysis

Inkographics will develop an algorithm for generating optimal flight paths for two aircraft (protected entity and jammer asset) over terrain with known threat emitters, and implement it in software. This algorithm utilizes a hybrid approach to path generation, borrowing from both reactive and deliberative motion planning techniques. It runs in two stages, defining safe corridor volumes for each aircraft first, and then computing optimal trajectories within these corridors. The safe corridors are generated solving a constrained motion problem, where constraints are derived from flight characteristics/ aircraft dynamics, alignment geometries of aircraft, threat emitter locations and characteristics, and terrain features. Each next set of waypoints is generated with the use of a cost function. At the core of this path-planning algorithm are volumetric calculations such as intersection of jammer acceptability regions with safe corridor segments, as well as the technique for rollback and path branching. These two key components bound runtime performance of the algorithm. The proposed hardware/software architecture is designed in consideration of the defined restriction on runtime performance. The proposed modeling, simulation, visualization, and analysis software provides high-quality 3D visualization as well as playback and interactive capabilities.