Trajectory-Prediction Techniques for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): A Comprehensive Survey

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have witnessed remarkable significance in diverse sectors, ranging from environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, disaster response, wildlife conservation, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. It is crucial to predict their future states to enable UAVs’ safe and efficient operation in dynamic environments. UAV trajectory planning is a crucial aspect of UAV operations, as it determines how the drone will navigate, perform tasks, and avoid obstacles. UAVs can be operated with varying degrees of autonomy, and they can be controlled by humans or autonomously via onboard autopilot software. While existing research has extensively focused on trajectory planning methodologies for UAVs, there is a noticeable gap in the literature concerning the integration of predictive capabilities into trajectory planning, highlighting the need for a comprehensive review of methodologies in UAV trajectory prediction connected with the associated realm of trajectory planning. This article provides a comprehensive and comparative analysis of trajectory prediction methods tailored for autonomous UAVs. Beginning with a precise problem definition and algorithm categorization, our study delves into evaluating methodologies rooted in conventional mathematical models, classical machine learning, deep learning, and reinforcement learning models.