Comparison of three different curves used in path planning problems based on particle swarm optimizer

Abstract

In path planning problems, the most important task is to find a suitable collision-free path which satisfies some certain criteria (the shortest path length, security, feasibility, smoothness, and so on), so defining a suitable curve to describe path is essential. Three different commonly used curves are compared and discussed based on their performance on solving a set of path planning problems. Dynamic multiswarm particle swarm optimizer is employed to optimize the necessary parameters for these curves. The results show that Bezier curve is the most suitable curve for producing path for the certain path planning problems discussed in this paper. Safety criterion is considered as a constrained condition. A new constraint handling method is proposed and compared with other two constraint handling methods. The results show that the new method has a better characteristic to improve the performance of algorithm. © 2014 J. J. Liang et al.