An eikonal equation based path planning method using polygon decomposition and curve evolution

Path planning is a key technique of autonomous navigation for robots, and the velocity field is an important part. Constructing velocity field in a complex workspace is still challenging. In this paper, an inner normal guided segmentation algorithm in a complex polygon is proposed to decompose the complex workspace in this paper. The artificial potential field model based on probability theory is then used to calculate the potential field of the decomposed workspace, and the velocity field is obtained by utilizing the potential field of this workspace. Path optimization is implemented by curve evolution, during which the internal force generated in the smoothing process of the initial path by a mean filter and the external force is obtained from the gradient of the workspace potential field. The parameter selection principle is deduced by analyzing the influence of several parameters on the path length and smoothness. Simulation results show that the designed polygon decomposition algorithm can effectively segment complex workspace and that the path optimization algorithm can shorten and smoothen paths.