# Time-Optimal Planning for Long-Range Quadrotor Flights: An Automatic Optimal Synthesis Approach

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.17944 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.17944/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 25 Jul 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [MAVEN: A Meta-Reinforcement Learning Framework for Varying-Dynamics Expertise in Agile Quadrotor Maneuvers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.10714/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Time-critical tasks such as drone racing typically cover large operation areas. However, it is difficult and computationally intensive for current time-optimal motion planners to accommodate long flight distances since a large yet unknown number of knot points is required to represent the trajectory. We present a polynomial-based automatic optimal synthesis (AOS) approach that can address this challenge. Our method not only achieves superior time optimality but also maintains a consistently low computational cost across different ranges while considering the full quadrotor dynamics. First, we analyze the properties of time-optimal quadrotor maneuvers to determine the minimal number of polynomial pieces required to capture the dominant structure of time-optimal trajectories. This enables us to represent substantially long minimum-time trajectories with a minimal set of variables. Then, a robust optimization scheme is developed to handle arbitrary start and end conditions as well as intermediate waypoints. Extensive comparisons show that our approach is faster than the state-of-the-art approach by orders of magnitude with comparable time optimality. Real-world experiments further validate the quality of the resulting trajectories, demonstrating aggressive time-optimal maneuvers with a peak velocity of 8.86 m/s.