Which type of data is used for obstacle avoidance in flight path planning?

• A. Active sensor data
• B. GPS coordinates
• C. Visual video stream only
• D. Airspeed

Answer: (A)

Obstacle avoidance in flight path planning relies on sensing the environment in real time. Active sensor data, such as lidar, radar, or depth sensors, emits signals and measures what returns to determine exact distances to nearby objects. This direct distance and shape information lets the flight controller adjust the path to maintain safe clearance and reroute if a potential collision is detected. GPS coordinates provide position context but do not reveal obstacles around the drone, so they can’t support real-time avoidance on their own. A visual video stream offers rich surroundings data, but without depth sensing or advanced processing it can be unreliable for fast, precise avoidance, especially in low light or feature-poor environments. Airspeed is a flight parameter describing how fast the drone is moving and does not indicate obstacles. Thus, active sensor data is the data type used for obstacle avoidance.