22,743 research outputs found
High-speed autonomous navigation system for heavy vehicles
This paper presents techniques for GPS based autonomous navigation of heavy
vehicles at high speed. The control system has two main functions: vehicle position
estimation and generation of the steering commands for the vehicle to follow a given path
autonomously. Position estimation is based on fusion of measurements from a carrier-phase
differential GPS system and odometric sensors using fuzzy logic. A Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy
controller is used for steering commands generation, to cope with different road geometry
and vehicle velocity. The presented system has been implemented in a 13 tons truck, and
fully tested in very demanding conditions, i.e. high velocity and large curvature variations in
paved and unpaved roads
AutonoVi: Autonomous Vehicle Planning with Dynamic Maneuvers and Traffic Constraints
We present AutonoVi:, a novel algorithm for autonomous vehicle navigation
that supports dynamic maneuvers and satisfies traffic constraints and norms.
Our approach is based on optimization-based maneuver planning that supports
dynamic lane-changes, swerving, and braking in all traffic scenarios and guides
the vehicle to its goal position. We take into account various traffic
constraints, including collision avoidance with other vehicles, pedestrians,
and cyclists using control velocity obstacles. We use a data-driven approach to
model the vehicle dynamics for control and collision avoidance. Furthermore,
our trajectory computation algorithm takes into account traffic rules and
behaviors, such as stopping at intersections and stoplights, based on an
arc-spline representation. We have evaluated our algorithm in a simulated
environment and tested its interactive performance in urban and highway driving
scenarios with tens of vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. These scenarios
include jaywalking pedestrians, sudden stops from high speeds, safely passing
cyclists, a vehicle suddenly swerving into the roadway, and high-density
traffic where the vehicle must change lanes to progress more effectively.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Definition of avionics concepts for a heavy lift cargo vehicle. Volume 1: Executive summary
A cost effective, multiuser simulation, test, and demonstration facility to support the development of avionics systems for future space vehicles is examined. The technology needs and requirements of future Heavy Lift Cargo Vehicles (HLCVs) are analyzed and serve as the basis for sizing of the avionics facility, although the lab is not limited in use to support of HLCVs. Volume 1 provides a summary of the vehicle avionics trade studies, the avionics lab objectives, a summary of the lab's functional requirements and design, physical facility considerations, and cost estimates
Automation and robotics considerations for a lunar base
An envisioned lunar outpost shares with other NASA missions many of the same criteria that have prompted the development of intelligent automation techniques with NASA. Because of increased radiation hazards, crew surface activities will probably be even more restricted than current extravehicular activity in low Earth orbit. Crew availability for routine and repetitive tasks will be at least as limited as that envisioned for the space station, particularly in the early phases of lunar development. Certain tasks are better suited to the untiring watchfulness of computers, such as the monitoring and diagnosis of multiple complex systems, and the perception and analysis of slowly developing faults in such systems. In addition, mounting costs and constrained budgets require that human resource requirements for ground control be minimized. This paper provides a glimpse of certain lunar base tasks as seen through the lens of automation and robotic (A&R) considerations. This can allow a more efficient focusing of research and development not only in A&R, but also in those technologies that will depend on A&R in the lunar environment
Artificial potential functions for highway driving with collision avoidance
We present a set of potential function components to assist an automated or semi-automated vehicle in navigating a multi-lane, populated highway. The resulting potential field is constructed as a superposition of disparate functions for lane- keeping, road-staying, speed preference, and vehicle avoidance and passing. The construction of the vehicle avoidance potential is of primary importance, incorporating the structure and protocol of laned highway driving. Particularly, the shape and dimensions of the potential field behind each obstacle vehicle can appropriately encourage control vehicle slowing and/or passing, depending on the cars' velocities and surrounding traffic. Hard barriers on roadway edges and soft boundaries between navigable lanes keep the vehicle on the highway, with a preference to travel in a lane center
Fine-grained acceleration control for autonomous intersection management using deep reinforcement learning
Recent advances in combining deep learning and Reinforcement Learning have
shown a promising path for designing new control agents that can learn optimal
policies for challenging control tasks. These new methods address the main
limitations of conventional Reinforcement Learning methods such as customized
feature engineering and small action/state space dimension requirements. In
this paper, we leverage one of the state-of-the-art Reinforcement Learning
methods, known as Trust Region Policy Optimization, to tackle intersection
management for autonomous vehicles. We show that using this method, we can
perform fine-grained acceleration control of autonomous vehicles in a grid
street plan to achieve a global design objective.Comment: Accepted in IEEE Smart World Congress 201
Pushbroom Stereo for High-Speed Navigation in Cluttered Environments
We present a novel stereo vision algorithm that is capable of obstacle
detection on a mobile-CPU processor at 120 frames per second. Our system
performs a subset of standard block-matching stereo processing, searching only
for obstacles at a single depth. By using an onboard IMU and state-estimator,
we can recover the position of obstacles at all other depths, building and
updating a full depth-map at framerate.
Here, we describe both the algorithm and our implementation on a high-speed,
small UAV, flying at over 20 MPH (9 m/s) close to obstacles. The system
requires no external sensing or computation and is, to the best of our
knowledge, the first high-framerate stereo detection system running onboard a
small UAV
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