Comparative Analysis of Nonlinear Programming Solvers: Performance Evaluation, Benchmarking, and Multi-UAV Optimal Path Planning

Giovanni Lavezzi; Kidus Guye; Venanzio Cichella; Marco Ciarcià

doi:10.3390/drones7080487

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Comparative Analysis of Nonlinear Programming Solvers: Performance Evaluation, Benchmarking, and Multi-UAV Optimal Path Planning

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Comparative Analysis of Nonlinear Programming Solvers: Performance Evaluation, Benchmarking, and Multi-UAV Optimal Path Planning

Giovanni Lavezzi, Kidus Guye, Venanzio Cichella and Marco Ciarcià

Drones (Basel), Vol.7(8), 487

01/01/2023

DOI: 10.3390/drones7080487

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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a set of guidelines to select a solver for the solution of nonlinear programming problems. We conduct a comparative analysis of the convergence performances of commonly used solvers for both unconstrained and constrained nonlinear programming problems. The comparison metrics involve accuracy, convergence rate, and computational time. MATLAB is chosen as the implementation platform due to its widespread adoption in academia and industry. Our study includes solvers which are either freely available or require a license, or are extensively documented in the literature. Moreover, we differentiate solvers if they allow the selection of different optimal search methods. We assess the performance of 24 algorithms on a set of 60 benchmark problems. We also evaluate the capability of each solver to tackle two large-scale UAV optimal path planning scenarios, specifically the 3D minimum time problem for UAV landing and the 3D minimum time problem for UAV formation flying. To enrich our analysis, we discuss the effects of each solver’s inner settings on accuracy, convergence rate, and computational time.

Algorithms

Linear Programming

Numerical Analysis

Computational efficiency

Computing time

Convergence

Formation flying

Mathematical functions

Mathematical programming

Nonlinear programming

Optimization techniques

Path planning

Performance evaluation

Solvers

Unmanned aerial vehicles

Vehicles

Details

Title: Subtitle: Comparative Analysis of Nonlinear Programming Solvers: Performance Evaluation, Benchmarking, and Multi-UAV Optimal Path Planning
Creators: Giovanni Lavezzi - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Kidus Guye - University of Maryland, College Park
Venanzio Cichella - University of Iowa
Marco Ciarcià - South Dakota State University
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Drones (Basel), Vol.7(8), 487
DOI: 10.3390/drones7080487
eISSN: 2504-446X
Publisher: MDPI AG
Grant note: name: Amazon; DOI: 10.13039/100000006, name: Office of Naval Research, award: N000142212634, N000142112091; DOI: 10.13039/100000001, name: National Science Foundation, award: 2136298
Language: English
Date published: 01/01/2023
Academic Unit: Mechanical Engineering
Record Identifier: 9984456076202771

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