Online path planning for missile in dynamic environment using a heuristic algorithm

In this research, the aim is to find the shortest path, without encountering the existing obstacles, to guide a missile in a linear way through fixed and moving obstacles towards a moving target. The movements of the obstacles and the target are unknown in the first place, but after discovering and finding the target and obstacles, the method proposed in this article can generate commands for the missile to track the target until it is reached. The proposed algorithm of this article is designed in such a way that it can be ensured that the missile finds the shortest possible path and approaches the target by avoiding the obstacles completely. On the other hand, considering that the presented algorithm does not use all the information available in the environment and in order to control the volume of calculations in the next cycles, corrective operations are used in the algorithm, so it is expected that the proposed algorithm will reach the optimal solution in a very short time. Also, we have simulated some complex scenarios to test the algorithm in MATLAB software, the results of which show the convergence of the algorithm in finding the optimal path leading to the moving or stationary target while avoiding moving or stationary obstacles in the appropriate time frame.