{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T10:38:46Z","timestamp":1777891126627,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,28]],"date-time":"2025-02-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1740700800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["62272239"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["62272239"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["62302237"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["62302237"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["62303214"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["62303214"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2025C25009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025C25009"]}]},{"name":"Department of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province Soft Science Research Program Project","award":["62272239"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["62272239"]}]},{"name":"Department of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province Soft Science Research Program Project","award":["62302237"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["62302237"]}]},{"name":"Department of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province Soft Science Research Program Project","award":["62303214"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["62303214"]}]},{"name":"Department of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province Soft Science Research Program Project","award":["2025C25009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025C25009"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To address the problem of UAV path planning in complex mountainous terrains, this paper comprehensively considers constraints such as natural mountain and obstacle collision threats, the shortest path, and flight altitude. We propose a more practical UAV path planning model that better reflects the actual UAV path planning situation in complex mountainous areas. In order to solve this model, this paper improves the traditional dung beetle optimization (DBO) algorithm and proposes an improved dung beetle optimization (IDBO) algorithm. The IDBO algorithm optimizes the population initialization method based on the concept of symmetry, ensuring that the population is more evenly distributed within the solution space. Additionally, the algorithm introduces a sine\u2013cosine function-based movement strategy, inspired by the symmetry principle, to enhance the search efficiency of individual population members. Furthermore, a population evolution strategy is incorporated to prevent the algorithm from getting stuck in local optima. To demonstrate the algorithm\u2019s performance, tests were conducted using 23 commonly used benchmark functions provided by the CEC 2005 competition and six commonly used engineering problem models provided by the CEC 2020 competition. The results indicate that IDBO significantly outperforms DBO in terms of convergence performance, effectively solving various engineering optimization problems. Finally, experimental tests under three different threat scenarios show that the proposed IDBO algorithm has scientific validity when applied to UAV path planning. This solution method effectively reduces UAV flight energy consumption costs and obstacle collision threats while improving the efficiency and accuracy of UAV path planning.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym17030367","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,28]],"date-time":"2025-02-28T08:05:54Z","timestamp":1740729954000},"page":"367","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Path Planning Method Based on Improved Dung Beetle Optimization Algorithm"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Fengjun","family":"Lv","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Institute of Communications, Hangzhou 311112, China"}]},{"given":"Yongbo","family":"Jian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Modern Post, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China"}]},{"given":"Kai","family":"Yuan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Anhui Yugu Express Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Wuhu 241300, China"}]},{"given":"Yubin","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Modern Post, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3485","DOI":"10.1109\/TASE.2024.3395409","article-title":"A Search and Detection Autonomous Drone System: From Design to Implementation","volume":"22","author":"Khosravi","year":"2025","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. 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