Cooperative obstacle avoidance for heterogeneous unmanned systems during search mission

2018 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
pp. 1850002 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Harikumar ◽  
Titas Bera ◽  
Rajarshi Bardhan ◽  
Suresh Sundaram

The problem of cooperative obstacle avoidance by a group of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) during a typical search mission is addressed in this paper. The group of UAVs and UGVs are performing a search operation in the designated area. All the UAVs and UGVs are equipped with a vision sensor/LIDAR to identify the possible obstacles in the search space. Due to their operation on the ground, UGVs are more likely to encounter obstacles. The obstacle avoidance for UGV under the event of sensor failure is done with environment information from the nearest UAV. The UAV plans its trajectory according to the UGV’s expected future trajectory, leading towards the base station. The UGV replans its trajectory to avoid obstacles after obtaining the information from its nearest UAV. A simulation study is performed with 10 UAVs and five UGVs performing a search mission in 1[Formula: see text]km[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]1[Formula: see text]km area. The proposed obstacle avoidance method is experimentally validated in the outdoor environment with an autonomous UAV equipped with a camera and an autonomous UGV navigating based on GPS localization and environment information from the UAV.

Author(s):  
Ryan P. Shaw ◽  
David M. Bevly

This paper presents a new approach for the guidance and control of a UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle). An obstacle avoidance algorithm was developed using an integrated system involving proportional navigation (PN) and a nonlinear model predictive controller (NMPC). An obstacle avoidance variant of the classical proportional navigation law generates command lateral accelerations to avoid obstacles, while the NMPC is used to track the reference trajectory given by the PN. The NMPC utilizes a lateral vehicle dynamic model. Obstacle avoidance has become a popular area of research for both unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles. In this application an obstacle avoidance algorithm can take over the control of a vehicle until the obstacle is no longer a threat. The performance of the obstacle avoidance algorithm is evaluated through simulation. Simulation results show a promising approach to conditionally implemented obstacle avoidance.


Author(s):  
Yimin Chen ◽  
Chuan Hu ◽  
Yechen Qin ◽  
Mingjun Li ◽  
Xiaolin Song

Obstacle avoidance strategy is important to ensure the driving safety of unmanned ground vehicles. In the presence of static and moving obstacles, it is challenging for the unmanned ground vehicles to plan and track the collision-free paths. This paper proposes an obstacle avoidance strategy consists of the path planning and the robust fuzzy output-feedback control. A path planner is formed to generate the collision-free paths that avoid static and moving obstacles. The quintic polynomial curves are employed for path generation considering computational efficiency and ride comfort. Then, a robust fuzzy output-feedback controller is designed to track the planned paths. The Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy modeling technique is utilized to handle the system variables when forming the vehicle dynamic model. The robust output-feedback control approach is used to track the planned paths without using the lateral velocity signal. The proposed obstacle avoidance strategy is validated in CarSim® simulations. The simulation results show the unmanned ground vehicle can avoid the static and moving obstacles by applying the designed path planning and robust fuzzy output-feedback control approaches.


Machines ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco De Simone ◽  
Zandra Rivera ◽  
Domenico Guida

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 741-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongsoon Yoon ◽  
Jongho Shin ◽  
H. Jin Kim ◽  
Yongwoon Park ◽  
Shankar Sastry

Author(s):  
Yiqi Gao ◽  
Theresa Lin ◽  
Francesco Borrelli ◽  
Eric Tseng ◽  
Davor Hrovat

Two frameworks based on Model Predictive Control (MPC) for obstacle avoidance with autonomous vehicles are presented. A given trajectory represents the driver intent. An MPC has to safely avoid obstacles on the road while trying to track the desired trajectory by controlling front steering angle and differential braking. We present two different approaches to this problem. The first approach solves a single nonlinear MPC problem. The second approach uses a hierarchical scheme. At the high-level, a trajectory is computed on-line, in a receding horizon fashion, based on a simplified point-mass vehicle model in order to avoid an obstacle. At the low-level an MPC controller computes the vehicle inputs in order to best follow the high level trajectory based on a nonlinear vehicle model. This article presents the design and comparison of both approaches, the method for implementing them, and successful experimental results on icy roads.


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