The research of path planning for general aviation based on improved A∗ algorithm

To solve the problem of large search space, large number of extended nodes, long searching time and large memory consumption for 3D path planning in general aviation(GA), this paper proposes an improved A∗ algorithm based on classical A∗ algorithm. The improved method first dynamically build 3D grid search space based on initial node and target node. Then nodes are extended by improving cost function, setting dynamic step length, and maintaining current flight state. Also optimize data structure to improve search efficiency. Finally, this paper has developed an application for real terrain that can be used to quickly and efficiently plan an optimized path.