Appendix A

Differential Geometry
Differential geometry is the study of geometry using the principles of
calculus. In general, a curve r(q) is defined as a vector-valued function in n
space. The parameter q varies over a  number line. Mathematically, this
is a continuous mapping r : I → n , where I ∈ [a, b] and q ∈ I. For example,
a curve r(q) in 3D is represented as r : I → 3 , where r(q) = (x(q), y(q), z(q)).
Thus a curve r(q) can be considered as a position vector in Euclidean space.
The function r(q) traces the curve as the parameter q varies. If the parameter
q is time, the position vector will be given by a vector from the origin to
the curve (x(q), y(q), z(q)) at time q. The velocity and acceleration can simply
be calculated by taking the derivative of the curve, and their profiles can be
drawn by substituting the values of q.
The geometric properties of the curve or path per se can be studied by unit
speed parametrisation as follows. The arc length h(q) of the curve r(q) is
 s2 
h(q) = ẋ2 + ẏ2 + ż2 dq. (A.1)
s1

The unit speed parametrisation is such that the parametric speed ṡ = ds/dq
of the path is unity. This is an ideal concept. This is explained as follows.
Consider a vehicle that starts moving at time q1 and then stops at time q2 .
The path length at time q1 is h1 and at time q2 is h2 . A path of unit speed
parametrisation has (q2 − q1 ) = (h2 − h1 ). This means that the time travelled

Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Antonios Tsourdos, Brian White and and Madhavan Shanmugavel
© 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-74129-0
176 Appendix A: Differential Geometry

is equal to the distance travelled. Mathematically, this is

 
 dr 
  = |dr/dq| = 1. (A.2)
 dh  |dh/dq|

The physical significance of differential geometry of the curve is as follows.

Taking q as time, the first derivative is the tangent vector and it defines
velocity. The speed is given by the modulus of the velocity vector, and the
direction of velocity (heading) is specified by the unit tangent vector, t. The
second derivative is the acceleration vector, and this has two components, one
along the tangent and other normal to the tangent. The tangential acceleration
is given by the second derivative of the velocity vector and its direction is
along the direction of the heading velocity. The direction of the normal
acceleration is given by a unit normal vector, n, and its magnitude is equal
to the centripetal acceleration given by κ|v|2 , where κ is the curvature and v
is the velocity. Thus the curvature is proportional to the lateral acceleration
and hence the lateral force induced while the vehicle is turning. Taking the
path length as a parameter, the rate of change of the tangent vector with
respect to the arc length defines the tangent vector.
The cross-product of the unit vectors t and n produces a third unit vector,
called the binormal vector b, which is orthogonal to t and n. Thus the
orthogonal triad (t, n, b) forms a moving frame on the curve. The plane
spanned by the vectors t and n is the osculating plane. The vectors n and b
form the normal plane, and the vectors b and t form the rectifying plane.
These three planes are orthogonal to each other. A continuous sequence of
this triad represents the orientation of the curve in space. The curvature and
torsion (κ and τ ) completely specify a path in space. Thus we have:

ṙ(q)
unit tangent vector, t= , (A.3)
|ṙ(q)|
ṙ(q) × r̈(q)
unit binormal vector, b= , (A.4)
|ṙ(q) × r̈(q)|
unit normal vector, n = b × t. (A.5)

The curvature profile at a point P is defined by the relation

d
κ= , (A.6)
dh
Appendix A: Differential Geometry 177

where h is the path length and  is the angle subtended by the tangent with
the x axis. But,

d d/dq
= .
dh dh/dq

Hence, equation (A.6) becomes

ω = vκ, (A.7)

where ω = d/dq is the angular velocity, v = dh/dq is the linear velocity and
q is the path parameter.

A.1 Frenet–Serret Equations

At every point on the curve, we can fix a local frame formed by the
tangent, normal and binormal orthonormal vectors. Such a frame is called
the Frenet–Serret (FS) frame (Figure A.1). The FS equations describe the

t
ez
P
r(q)

s(q)

ey ex n X
O

ey

Figure A.1 Frenet–Serret frame {t , n, b}, in which t is the unit tangent, n is the
unit normal and b is the unit binormal. On the diagram, r (q ) is the path, P is
the position vector of a point on the path, {ex , ey , ez } are the unit vectors and
h(q ) is the path length
178 Appendix A: Differential Geometry

rate of change of the curve with respect to the change of arc length. The FS
equations are as follows:

t = κ(q)n, (A.8)
n = −κ(q)t + τ (q)b, (A.9)

b = −τ (q)n. (A.10)

In matrix form, this becomes

⎛  ⎞ ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞
t 0 κ(q) 0 t
⎝ n ⎠ = ⎝ −κ(q) 0 τ (q) ⎠ ⎝ n ⎠ , (A.11)

b 0 −τ (q) 0 b

where the prime represents the derivative with respect to the path variable
q and

curvature, κ(q) = r (q) × r (q), (A.12)

  
[r (q) · r (q) × r (q)]
torsion, τ (q) = . (A.13)
κ 2 (q)

The time rate of change of the FS vectors in matrix form is

⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞
ṫ 0 κ(t) 0 t
⎝ ṅ ⎠ = q̇ ⎝ −κ(t) 0 τ (t) ⎠ ⎝ n ⎠ , (A.14)
ḃ 0 −τ (t) 0 b

where q̇ = dq/dt is the speed (parametric speed) and q is the path parameter.
Thus we obtain
ṙ(t) × r̈(t)
curvature, κ(t) = , (A.15)
ṙ(t)3
...
ṙ(t) · r̈(t) × r (t)
torsion, τ (t) = . (A.16)
ṙ(t) × r̈(t)2

A.2 Importance of Curvature and Torsion

Mathematically, a flyable path is a regular curve that captures both the geo-
metric (locus of points) and kinematic (motion) aspects. A regular curve r is a
mapping r : [a, b] → R at least three times continuously differentiable, r ∈ C3
and satisfying the regularity condition dr/dq = 0 for all q ∈ [a, b]. Regularity
Appendix A: Differential Geometry 179

means that the point moving along the curve is not allowed to stop, a natu-
ral requirement for fixed-wing UAVs. However, considering the kinematic
constraints, it is important for the path to have curvature continuity.
By the principles of differential geometry (Kreyszig 1991; Lipschutz 1969),
the curvature and torsion are fundamental properties of a path, by which
a curve is completely determined in space. In two dimensions, curvature
alone is enough. Apart from the geometric insights, these two properties
play an important role in the mechanics of a moving vehicle. The physical
significance of these properties are that the curvature is proportional to the
lateral acceleration and is measured by the rate of change of the tangent
vector, while the torsion is proportional to the angular momentum and is
measured by the rate of change of the tangent plane:

ṙ × r̈
κ(q) = , (A.17)
|ṙ|3
...
ṙ, r̈, r 
τ (q) = . (A.18)
|ṙ × r̈|3

From equation (A.18), the curvature and torsion, respectively, are functions
of the first two and three derivatives of the path. Hence, it is necessary to
have a path of minimal order sufficient to satisfy curvature constraints and
additional flexibility to negotiate obstacles.

A.3 Motion and Frames

The design of the Dubins path using analytic geometry is as simple and
easy to understand as the Euclidean space is familiar to us. However, for an
autonomous vehicle, it would be appropriate to use frames to describe the
motion. A curve can be studied by assigning a frame at each point on it. The
curve evolves with the rate of change of these frames (O’Neill 1967). The
Frenet–Serret frame (FS) is one such frame, shown in Figure A.2. This frame
constitutes tangent (t), normal (n) and binormal (b) vectors, which together
form a trihedron on every point of the path. The advantage of the frame is
that the rate of change of the trihedron varies with the frame itself with the
given curvatures of the path:

ṙ ṙ × r̈
t= , n= , b = t × n, (A.19)
|ṙ| |ṙ × r̈|
180 Appendix A: Differential Geometry

z
t2

b2

y
r (q ) n2
n1 b1

t1

q
P
s

Figure A.2 Frenet–Serret frame on a 3D curve

where the derivatives are with respect to the path parameter q. The rate of
change of these vectors (and hence the frame) is a function of two parameters,
curvature and torsion:
⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞
ṫ 0 κ 0 t
⎝ ṅ ⎠ = v(q) ⎝ −κ 0 τ ⎠ ⎝ n ⎠ , (A.20)
ḃ 0 −τ 0 b

where v is the velocity.

From equation (A.20), it can be seen that, for a given curvature and torsion,
the evolution of the FS frame with time is the frame itself.
Kinematics can be best represented using differential geometry. Differen-
tial geometry enables the motion along the curve to be understood rather
than representing motion with respect to some fixed frame. For example,
taking time q as the path parameter, the path r(q) represents the equation
of motion of the vehicle along the path with time. Also, the motion can
be expressed in terms of a moving trihedron along the curve. This moving
trihedron is purely a function of the intrinsic properties of the path, namely
(i) curvature and (ii) torsion, as shown in Figure A.2.
The Frenet–Serret (FS) frame forms a basis at each point on the curve.
Hence, the curve can be studied and generated by transformation of these
Appendix A: Differential Geometry 181

bases. From Figure A.2, the curve r(q) is generated by transforming the frame
F1 (t1 , n1 , b1 ) at P to a new frame F2 (t2 , n2 , b2 ) at Q by F2 = R F1 , where R is
the rotation matrix with rotation angle .

References

Kreyszig, E. 1991. Differential Geometry. Dover Publications.

Lipschutz, M. 1969. Schaum’s Outline of Differential Geometry. McGraw-Hill.
O’Neill, B. 1967. Elementary Differential Geometry. Academic Press.