Guidance performance benchmarking for autonomous rotorcraft

This paper describes a framework for performance evaluation of autonomous guidance systems. The elements of the framework consist of a set of spatial geometries, flight tasks, performance metrics, a flightdynamic model, and baseline solutions. The spatial benchmarks consist of six tasks in simple geometrical environments and 10 tasks inmore complex urban environments based on a real digital terrain elevation map. The framework also includes a set of performance metrics used to compare trajectories. The performance baselines used in the proposed framework are near-optimal solutions computed using one of two trajectory optimization methods: numerical optimization based on nonlinear programming for the simple geometric environments and a motion primitive automaton for problems involving the urban environments. The paper concludes with a demonstration of the benchmarking framework using the Obstacle Field Navigation system developed by the Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate.