Probabilistic modeling for UAV path planning in the presence of threat zones

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used for military as well as commercial interests. In a military context the role of UAVs is, among others, to provide the operator with valuable intelligence about an area of interest, to gather reconnaissance information and surveillance data, and during execution to offer support in operations against enemy forces or integrated air defense systems. UAVs have already demonstrated that they possess outstanding capability on these fields. According to Nielsen et al. (2003) UAVs will become more and more integrated into daily operations in the next decades.