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arXiv · 2502.19401

ARENA: Adaptive Risk-aware and Energy-efficient NAvigation for Multi-Objective 3D Infrastructure Inspection with a UAV

David-Alexandre Poissant·Alexis Lussier Desbiens·François Ferland·Louis Petit
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Abstract

Autonomous robotic inspection missions require balancing multiple conflicting objectives while navigating near costly obstacles. Current multi-objective path planning (MOPP) methods struggle to adapt to evolving risks like localization errors, weather, battery state, and communication issues. This letter presents an Adaptive Risk-aware and Energy-efficient NAvigation (ARENA) MOPP approach for UAVs in complex 3D environments. Our method enables online trajectory adaptation by optimizing safety, time, and energy using 4D NURBS representation and a genetic-based algorithm to generate the Pareto front. A novel risk-aware voting algorithm ensures adaptivity. Simulations and real-world tests demonstrate the planner's ability to produce diverse, optimized trajectories covering 95% or more of the range defined by single-objective benchmarks and its ability to estimate power consumption with a mean error representing 14% of the full power range. The ARENA framework enhances UAV autonomy and reliability in critical, evolving 3D missions.

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David-Alexandre Poissant, Alexis Lussier Desbiens, François Ferland, Louis Petit. 2025-02-26. ARENA: Adaptive Risk-aware and Energy-efficient NAvigation for Multi-Objective 3D Infrastructure Inspection with a UAV. https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.19401

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