Turbulence-Aware UAV Path Planning in Urban Environments

Abstract

Wind turbulence is a critical factor for the safety \nof Urban Air Mobility operations. In urban environments, \nbuildings and structures can generate irregular wind currents \nthat may compromise the stability of aircraft. This poses a \nhigh risk due to the potential severity of an accident in these \nareas. For these reasons, this paper introduces a risk-aware \npath planning solution for Urban Air Mobility applications, \nincluding Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations \nthat predict atmospheric wind at urban environments. The \ngenerated algorithm provides safe and efficient routes, avoiding \nflight through regions with significant turbulence. A practical \ncase study was conducted to demonstrate the strong capabilities \nof the proposed solution