From 2D to 3D terrain-following area coverage path planning

2026-01-02

arXiv.org

AI Summary

This study addresses the limitations of conventional two-dimensional coverage path planning in adapting to complex three-dimensional terrains by proposing a terrain-following, full-coverage path planning algorithm for 3D environments. The method extends 2D coverage paths into 3D space for the first time, constructing a uniform elevation grid via inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation. It incorporates projection distance constraints and a local search strategy to generate adjacent paths spaced precisely at the width of agricultural machinery and maintained at a constant operational height above the terrain. Experimental results on real-world agricultural terrain data demonstrate that the proposed algorithm effectively produces paths satisfying both full coverage and operational consistency requirements, significantly outperforming traditional 2D approaches in complex terrains.

Technology Category

Intelligent Robots: Motion and Path PlanningPlanning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal SystemsSearch and Optimization: Mixed Discrete/Continuous Search

Application Category

Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deploymentsGraph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphsResponsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web

Abstract

An algorithm for 3D terrain-following area coverage path planning is presented. Multiple adjacent paths are generated that are (i) locally apart from each other by a distance equal to the working width of a machinery, while (ii) simultaneously floating at a projection distance equal to a specific working height above the terrain. The complexities of the algorithm in comparison to its 2D equivalent are highlighted. These include uniformly spaced elevation data generation using an Inverse Distance Weighting-approach and a local search. Area coverage path planning results for real-world 3D data within an agricultural context are presented to validate the algorithm.

Problem

• 3D terrain-following
• area coverage path planning
• working width
• working height
• elevation data

Innovation

• 3D terrain-following
• area coverage path planning
• Inverse Distance Weighting
• agricultural robotics
• working height constraint