Unified analysis framework for the impact of urban environments on unmanned platform abilities

doi:10.23919/JSEE.2026.000141

Abstract

Abstract:

Unmanned platforms, performing various tasks in urban environments, have garnered significant attention. This paper primarily focuses on analyzing and modeling the influence of various urban environmental factors on the unmanned platforms’ core competencies, which include motion, perception, operation, and communication abilities. Initially, the paper delves into the urban environment’s geographical, meteorological, electromagnetic, and temporal factors, identifying and categorizing the typical elements into static and dynamic components. It further models the primary urban elements and elucidates their interrelationships. Then, the paper categorizes the types of unmanned platforms that are suitable for urban task execution. It identifies six fundamental components essential for describing the capabilities of these platforms: the perception, computing, motion, power, operation, and communication systems. Subsequently, the paper constructs an impact model by analyzing how typical urban environmental factors affect these six components. A unified analysis framework is proposed to assess the urban environment’s impact on the capabilities of unmanned platforms. Finally, the effectiveness of this framework is validated through path-planning tasks in various typical urban scenarios.

Key words: unmanned platforms, unified analysis framework, urban environment, four main abilities, path planning

Ruowei Zhang, Lihua Dou, Bin Xin. Unified analysis framework for the impact of urban environments on unmanned platform abilities[J]. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics, 2026, 37(4): 1267-1281.

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Table 6

Experimental data when ω=[ω1, ω2]=[0.7, 0.3]"

Scenarios of different demands			min F			min l			min p
Set	Instance	Alg	F	l	p	F	l	p	F	l	p
1	1-1-1-No	1	77.39	251.94	2.58	77.39	251.94	2.58	78.59	259.09	1.23
	1-1-1-No	2	96.41	317.50	1.66	96.41	317.50	1.66	99.21	328.00	1.16
	1-2-1-No	1	134.44	440.76	3.16	134.44	440.76	3.16	134.62	446.01	1.17
	1-2-1-No	2	143.26	466.32	4.80	143.26	466.32	4.80	182.57	605.73	1.22
	1-3-1-No	1	101.29	333.52	1.77	102.87	332.47	4.47	101.90	337.19	1.06
	1-3-1-No	2	101.62	336.00	1.18	101.62	336.00	1.18	119.13	394.73	1.01
	1-4-1-No	1	70.64	232.67	1.20	71.12	228.72	3.58	70.64	232.67	1.2055
	1-4-1-No	2	76.10	248.24	2.33	76.10	248.24	2.33	124.43	411.79	1.27
2	2-1-1-No	1	46.45	150.62	1.81	47.26	150.31	3.09	46.87	153.89	1.01
	2-1-1-No	2	47.11	154.00	1.30	47.11	154.00	1.30	80.52	266.00	1.04
	2-2-1-No	1	131.05	427.00	4.21	131.05	427.00	4.21	132.68	439.57	1.15
	2-2-1-No	2	158.05	520.88	2.55	158.05	520.88	2.55	169.73	563.23	1.08
	2-3-1-No	1	69.86	227.34	2.37	69.86	227.34	2.37	74.26	245.01	1.08
	2-3-1-No	2	77.08	251.10	2.51	77.08	251.10	2.51	108.55	359.13	1.15
	2-4-1-No	1	60.52	196.61	2.20	60.52	196.61	2.20	61.96	203.8823	1.14
	2-4-1-No	2	66.50	212.79	3.80	66.50	212.79	3.80	76.88	253.77	1.06
3	1-1-2-No	1	79.53	253.53	4.96	79.53	253.53	4.96	80.33	264.31	1.49
	1-1-2-No	2	79.82	261.33	2.03	79.82	261.33	2.03	91.13	300.71	1.31
	1-2-2-No	1	134.79	444.80	1.93	134.99	440.35	4.12	134.92	447.00	1.18
	1-2-2-No	2	156.27	515.15	2.46	156.27	515.15	2.46	156.63	519.65	1.05
	1-3-2-No	1	101.35	331.68	2.64	101.35	331.68	2.64	103.15	341.46	1.02
	1-3-2-No	2	112.63	371.51	1.69	112.63	371.51	1.69	132.51	439.17	1.09
	1-4-2-No	1	70.48	232.58	1.00	71.90	229.32	4.43	70.48	232.58	1.00
	1-4-2-No	2	75.21	247.35	1.43	75.21	247.35	1.43	82.48	271.84	1.33
4	1-1-2-Yes	1	92.18	302.24	2.15	92.18	302.24	2.15	92.58	306.10	1.07
	1-1-2-Yes	2	105.05	338.89	4.84	105.05	338.89	4.84	109.58	362.53	1.17
	1-2-2-Yes	1	133.90	443.73	1.11	134.99	439.89	4.31	133.90	443.73	1.11
	1-2-2-Yes	2	118.47	392.00	1.25	118.47	392.00	1.25	163.38	541.83	1.19
	1-3-2-Yes	1	104.64	346.38	1.04	105.91	341.55	4.93	104.64	346.38	1.04
	1-3-2-Yes	2	117.08	385.92	1.86	117.08	385.92	1.86	130.34	432.12	1.00
	1-4-2-Yes	1	69.99	230.29	1.30	70.80	225.26	4.61	70.32	231.45	1.27
	1-4-2-Yes	2	70.50	231.00	1.71	70.50	231.00	1.71	108.42	359.03	1.01

Table 6

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Main types	Specific categories
UAV	Fixed wing
	Large rotor
	Small rotor
UGV	Wheel-type
	Crawler-type
	Foot-type

Urban environment	Essential factor	1	2	3	4
	Terrains	√	×	×	×
	Surface	√	×	×	×
Geographical environment	Geology	√	×	×	×
Geographical environment	Features	√	√	√	√
	Road networks	√	×	×	×
	Indoor environment	√	√	√	√
Meteorological environment	Weather conditions	√	√	√	√
Eectromagnetic environment	Eectromagnetic interfere	×	√	√	√
Temporal factors	Season	√	√	√	√
Temporal factors	Day and night	×	√	×	×

Land type	Highway	Dirt	Grass	Sand
Value	0.01	0.2	0.4	0.7

UP	UAV	UAV	UGV	UGV
Instance	PRM	RRT	PRM	RRT
1-1	263.4339	336.0000	315.7007	353.9782
1-2	456.4741	559.7060	445.5668	627.3082
1-3	303.9980	417.8727	341.2503	384.0000
1-4	165.8686	200.5288	231.3009	299.7679
2-1	148.6092	246.0000	153.0665	316.9817
2-2	429.5937	582.1168	439.7218	546.8197
2-3	227.8447	365.5778	230.7512	354.9800
2-4	139.8853	189.0000	203.5328	357.9769

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