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uavCoverageSpace

2D coverage area for coverage planner

Since R2023a

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    Description

    The uavCoverageSpace object represents the coverage space as a set of convex polygons to use with the uavCoveragePlanner to perform coverage planning. Given a coverage area, the polygons form its configuration space.

    Creation

    Syntax

    space = uavCoverageSpace
    space = uavCoverageSpace(Polygons=polygonVertices)
    space = uavCoverageSpace(___,Name=Value)

    Description

    space = uavCoverageSpace creates an empty coverage space with default properties.

    space = uavCoverageSpace(Polygons=polygonVertices) creates a coverage space defined by convex one or more convex polygons as vertices polygonVertices, and sets the Polygons property.

    space = uavCoverageSpace(___,Name=Value) sets properties using one or more name-value arguments. For example, uavCoverageSpace(Overlap=0.5) sets the Overlap property to 0.5.

    example

    Input Arguments

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    Convex polygons to survey, specified as an M-by-2 matrix or an N-element cell array of M-by-2 matrices. N is the total number of polygons, and M is the total number of vertices that define the polygon.

    Concave polygons must be decomposed into convex polygons using the coverageDecomposition function.

    The format of the vertices depends on the UseLocalCoordinates property:

    • UseLocalCoordinates=true — Format is local xy-coordinates in the form [x y], in meters. UseLocalCoordinates is true by default.

    • UseLocalCoordinates=false — Format is geodetic coordinates in the form [latitude longitude]. latitude and longitude are in degrees.

    Example: {[0 0; 0 1; 1 1; 1 0],[1 1; 2 2; 3 1]}

    Data Types: single | double

    Properties

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    Polygons to survey, specified as a N-element row vector of structures. N is the total number of polygons specified in the polygons argument. Each structure contains the Vertices and SweepAngle:

    • Vertices — Vertices that define the polygon, specified as an M-by-2 matrix. M is the total number of vertices.

      The format of the vertices depends on the UseLocalCoordinates property:

      • UseLocalCoordinates=true — Format is local xy-coordinates in the form [x y], in meters. UseLocalCoordinates is true by default.

      • UseLocalCoordinates=false — Format is geodetic coordinates in the form [latitude longitude]. latitude and longitude are in degrees.

    • SweepAngle — Angle at which the UAV sweeps the polygon, specified as numeric scalar, in degrees. This value is NaN by default until you specify it or until the solver algorithm determines it when you plan the path with the uavCoveragePlanner object.

    Overlap between sensor footprints in a single row, specified as a nonnegative numeric scalar in the range [0, 1). A value of 0 specifies that the sensor footprints have no overlap, and a value of 1 indicates that the sensor footprints fully overlap.

    Data Types: single | double

    Overlap between sensor footprints of two rows, specified as a nonnegative numeric scalar in the range [0, 1]. A value of 0 specifies that the sensor footprints have no sidelap, and a value of 1 specifies that the sensor footprints fully sidelap.

    Data Types: single | double

    Width of sensor footprint, specified as a positive numeric scalar, in meters. This measurement is along the sweep line direction.

    Data Types: single | double

    Length of sensor footprint, specified as a positive numeric scalar, in meters. This measurement is perpendicular to the sweep line direction.

    Data Types: single | double

    Flight altitude of UAV, specified as a nonnegative numeric scalar, in meters.

    When UseLocalCoordinates is true or 1, the reference height is with respect to the local reference frame. When UseLocalCoordinates is false or 0, the coverage space assumes a flat-Earth approximation and the reference height is with respect to the ground at absolute zero meters.

    Data Types: single | double

    Use local coordinate or geodetic coordinate format, specified as 1 (true) for local coordinate format or 0 (false) for geodetic coordinate format.

    • When UseLocalCoordinates is true or 1:

      • Vertices of polygons in the uavCoverageSpace are specified as xy-coordinates in the form [x y], in meters.

      • takeoff and landing positions are specified as xyz-coordinates in the form [x y z], in meters.

      • Planned waypoints are returned as xyz-coordinates in the form [x y z], in meters.

    • When UseLocalCoordinates is false or 0:

      • Vertices of polygons in the uavCoverageSpace are specified as geodetic coordinates in the form [latitude longitude]. latitude and longitude are in degrees.

      • takeoff and landing positions are specified as geodetic coordinates in the form [latitude longitude altitude]. latitude and longitude are in degrees, and altitude is in meters.

      • Planned waypoints are returned as geodetic coordinates in the form [latitude longitude altitude]. latitude and longitude are in degrees, and altitude is in meters.

    Georeference to compute and export to geodetic waypoint coordinates, specified as an three-element row vector of the form [latitude longitude altitude]. latitude and longitude are in degrees, and altitude is in meters.

    Data Types: double

    Object Functions

    setCoveragePatternSet sweep angle for polygon in coverage area
    showVisualize 2D coverage space

    Examples

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    Open Live Script

    This example shows how to plan a coverage path that surveys the parking lots of the MathWorks Lakeside campus.

    Get the geodetic coordinates for the MathWorks Lakeside campus. Then create the limits for our map.

    mwLS = [42.3013 -71.375 0];
latlim = [mwLS(1)-0.003 mwLS(1)+0.003];
lonlim = [mwLS(2)-0.003 mwLS(2)+0.003];

    Create a figure containing the map with the longitude and latitude limits.

    fig = figure;
g = geoaxes(fig,Basemap="satellite");
geolimits(latlim,lonlim)

    Get the outline of the first parking lot in longitude and latitude coordinates. Then create the polygon by concatenating them.

    pl1lat = [42.3028 42.30325 42.3027 42.3017 42.3019]';
pl1lon = [-71.37527 -71.37442 -71.3736 -71.37378 -71.375234]';
pl1Poly = [pl1lat pl1lon];

    Repeat the process for the second parking lot.

    pl2lat = [42.30035 42.2999 42.2996 42.2999]';
pl2lon = [-71.3762 -71.3734 -71.37376 -71.37589]';
pl2poly = [pl2lat pl2lon];

    Create the coverage space with both of those polygons, set the coverage space to use geodetic coordinates, and set the reference location to the MathWorks Lakeside campus location. 

    cs = uavCoverageSpace(Polygons={pl1Poly,pl2poly},UseLocalCoordinates=false,ReferenceLocation=mwLS);

    Set the height at which to fly the UAV to 25 meters, and the sensor footprint width to 20 meters. Then show the coverage space on the map.

    ReferenceHeight = 25;
cs.UnitWidth = 20;
show(cs,Parent=g);

    Figure contains an axes object with type geoaxes. The geoaxes object contains 4 objects of type line, text.

    Set the sweep angle for polygons 1 and 2 to 85 and 5 degrees, respectively, to have paths that are parallel to the roads in the parking lots. Then create the coverage planner for that coverage space with the exhaustive solver algorithm.

    setCoveragePattern(cs,1,SweepAngle=85)
setCoveragePattern(cs,2,SweepAngle=5)
cp = uavCoveragePlanner(cs,Solver="Exhaustive");

    Set the takeoff position to a location in the courtyard, then plan the coverage path.

    takeoff = [42.30089 -71.3752, 0];
[wp,soln] = plan(cp,takeoff);
hold on
geoplot(wp(:,1),wp(:,2),LineWidth=1.5);
geoplot(takeoff(1),takeoff(2),MarkerSize=25,Marker=".")
legend("","","Path","Takeoff/Landing")
hold off

    Figure contains an axes object with type geoaxes. The geoaxes object contains 6 objects of type line, text. These objects represent Path, Takeoff/Landing.

    Open Live Script

    This example shows how to plan a coverage path for a region in local coordinates and compares the results of using the exhaustive solver with the results of using the minimum traversal solver.

    Define the vertices for a coverage space.

    area = [5 8.75; 5 27.5; 17.5 22.5; 25 31.25; 35 31.25; 30 20; 15 6.25];

    Because vertices define a concave polygon and the coverage planner requires convex polygons, decompose the polygon into convex polygons. Then create a coverage space with the polygons from decomposition.

    polygons = coverageDecomposition(area);
cs = uavCoverageSpace(Polygons=polygons);

    Define the takeoff and landing positions at [0 0 0] and [32.25 37.25 0], respectively. Then show the coverage space and plot the takeoff and landing positions.

    takeoff = [0 0 0];
landing = [32.25 37.25 0];
show(cs);
exampleHelperPlotTakeoffLandingLegend(takeoff,landing)

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object contains 6 objects of type polygon, text, scatter. These objects represent Polygon 1, Polygon 2, Takeoff, Landing.

    Create a coverage planner with the exhaustive solver algorithm and another coverage planner with a minimum traversal solver algorithm. Because Polygon 2 is closer to the takeoff position, set the visiting sequence of the solver parameters such that we traverse Polygon 2 first.

    cpeExh = uavCoveragePlanner(cs,Solver="Exhaustive");
cpMin = uavCoveragePlanner(cs,Solver="MinTraversal");
cpeExh.SolverParameters.VisitingSequence = [2 1];
cpMin.SolverParameters.VisitingSequence = [2 1];

    Plan with both solver algorithms using the same takeoff and landing positions.

    [wptsExh,solnExh] = plan(cpeExh,takeoff,landing);
[wptsMin,solnMin] = plan(cpMin,takeoff,landing);

    Show the planned path for both the exhaustive and the minimum traversal algorithms.

    figure
show(cs);
title("Exhaustive Solver Algorithm")
exampleHelperPlotTakeoffLandingLegend(takeoff,landing,wptsExh)

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title Exhaustive Solver Algorithm contains 7 objects of type polygon, text, scatter, line. These objects represent Polygon 1, Polygon 2, Takeoff, Landing, Path.

    figure
show(cs);
title("Minimum Traversal Solver Algorithm")
exampleHelperPlotTakeoffLandingLegend(takeoff,landing,wptsMin)

    Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with title Minimum Traversal Solver Algorithm contains 7 objects of type polygon, text, scatter, line. These objects represent Polygon 1, Polygon 2, Takeoff, Landing, Path.

    Export the waypoints from the minimum traversal solver to a .waypoints file with the reference frame set to north-east-down.

    exportWaypointsPlan(cpMin,solnMin,"coveragepath.waypoints",ReferenceFrame="NED")

    Extended Capabilities

    Version History

    Introduced in R2023a

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    See Also

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