Bulletin of Electrical Engineering and Informatics
Vol 14, No 6: December 2025

Path planning and obstacle avoidance for UAVs using Theta* and modulated velocity obstacle avoidance with 2D LiDAR

Tran, Hoang Thuan (Unknown)
Tran, Dong LT. (Unknown)
Vo, Chi Thanh (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Dec 2025

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel framework for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) navigation in complex environments, seamlessly integrating Theta* for global path planning with a simplified modulated velocity obstacle avoidance (MVOA) algorithm for local obstacle avoidance. Theta* generates optimal, smooth paths, while MVOA processes 2D LiDAR data as a single obstacle block to compute modulated velocities, enabling efficient avoidance of static and dynamic obstacles with minimal computational overhead. Compared to MVOA-only navigation, the integration of Theta* and MVOA produced shorter trajectories and faster mission completion with smoother velocity adjustments, demonstrating clear improvements in efficiency and stability. Simulation results show the framework maintains a 0.6 m safety distance and operates at 10 Hz, underscoring its robustness and reliability. The resulting control velocity is transmitted to an ArduPilot-based flight controller via MAVLink, ensuring precise, real-time execution. The current implementation focuses on 2D navigation in a planar environment as a foundation for future 3D expansion, with all results obtained through high-fidelity simulation. Building on these findings, the framework shows strong potential for real-time applications such as swarm UAV coordination, terrain surveying, and indoor navigation, offering a scalable solution for autonomous systems in dynamic settings.

Copyrights © 2025






Journal Info

Abbrev

EEI

Publisher

Subject

Electrical & Electronics Engineering

Description

Bulletin of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (Buletin Teknik Elektro dan Informatika) ISSN: 2089-3191, e-ISSN: 2302-9285 is open to submission from scholars and experts in the wide areas of electrical, electronics, instrumentation, control, telecommunication and computer engineering from the ...