438 research outputs found
A Real-time Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller for Yaw Motion Optimization of Distributed Drive Electric Vehicles
This paper proposes a real-time nonlinear model
predictive control (NMPC) strategy for direct yaw moment control
(DYC) of distributed drive electric vehicles (DDEVs). The NMPC
strategy is based on a control-oriented model built by integrating
a single track vehicle model with the Magic Formula (MF) tire
model. To mitigate the NMPC computational cost, the
continuation/generalized minimal residual (C/GMRES) algorithm
is employed and modified for real-time optimization. Since the
traditional C/GMRES algorithm cannot directly solve the
inequality constraint problem, the external penalty method is
introduced to transform inequality constraints into an
equivalently unconstrained optimization problem. Based on the
Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP), the existence and
uniqueness for solution of the proposed C/GMRES algorithm are
proven. Additionally, to achieve fast initialization in C/GMRES
algorithm, the varying predictive duration is adopted so that the
analytic expressions of optimally initial solutions in C/GMRES
algorithm can be derived and gained. A Karush-Kuhn-Tucker
(KKT) condition based control allocation method distributes the
desired traction and yaw moment among four independent
motors. Numerical simulations are carried out by combining
CarSim and Matlab/Simulink to evaluate the effectiveness of the
proposed strategy. Results demonstrate that the real-time NMPC
strategy can achieve superior vehicle stability performance,
guarantee the given safety constraints, and significantly reduce the
computational efforts
Effective Target Aware Visual Navigation for UAVs
In this paper we propose an effective vision-based navigation method that
allows a multirotor vehicle to simultaneously reach a desired goal pose in the
environment while constantly facing a target object or landmark. Standard
techniques such as Position-Based Visual Servoing (PBVS) and Image-Based Visual
Servoing (IBVS) in some cases (e.g., while the multirotor is performing fast
maneuvers) do not allow to constantly maintain the line of sight with a target
of interest. Instead, we compute the optimal trajectory by solving a non-linear
optimization problem that minimizes the target re-projection error while
meeting the UAV's dynamic constraints. The desired trajectory is then tracked
by means of a real-time Non-linear Model Predictive Controller (NMPC): this
implicitly allows the multirotor to satisfy both the required constraints. We
successfully evaluate the proposed approach in many real and simulated
experiments, making an exhaustive comparison with a standard approach.Comment: Conference paper at "European Conference on Mobile Robotics" (ECMR)
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Aerial navigation in obstructed environments with embedded nonlinear model predictive control
We propose a methodology for autonomous aerial navigation and obstacle
avoidance of micro aerial vehicles (MAV) using nonlinear model predictive
control (NMPC) and we demonstrate its effectiveness with laboratory
experiments. The proposed methodology can accommodate obstacles of arbitrary,
potentially non-convex, geometry. The NMPC problem is solved using PANOC: a
fast numerical optimization method which is completely matrix-free, is not
sensitive to ill conditioning, involves only simple algebraic operations and is
suitable for embedded NMPC. A C89 implementation of PANOC solves the NMPC
problem at a rate of 20Hz on board a lab-scale MAV. The MAV performs smooth
maneuvers moving around an obstacle. For increased autonomy, we propose a
simple method to compensate for the reduction of thrust over time, which comes
from the depletion of the MAV's battery, by estimating the thrust constant
Non-Linear Model Predictive Control with Adaptive Time-Mesh Refinement
In this paper, we present a novel solution for real-time, Non-Linear Model
Predictive Control (NMPC) exploiting a time-mesh refinement strategy. The
proposed controller formulates the Optimal Control Problem (OCP) in terms of
flat outputs over an adaptive lattice. In common approximated OCP solutions,
the number of discretization points composing the lattice represents a critical
upper bound for real-time applications. The proposed NMPC-based technique
refines the initially uniform time horizon by adding time steps with a sampling
criterion that aims to reduce the discretization error. This enables a higher
accuracy in the initial part of the receding horizon, which is more relevant to
NMPC, while keeping bounded the number of discretization points. By combining
this feature with an efficient Least Square formulation, our solver is also
extremely time-efficient, generating trajectories of multiple seconds within
only a few milliseconds. The performance of the proposed approach has been
validated in a high fidelity simulation environment, by using an UAV platform.
We also released our implementation as open source C++ code.Comment: In: 2018 IEEE International Conference on Simulation, Modeling, and
Programming for Autonomous Robots (SIMPAR 2018
Cautious NMPC with Gaussian Process Dynamics for Autonomous Miniature Race Cars
This paper presents an adaptive high performance control method for
autonomous miniature race cars. Racing dynamics are notoriously hard to model
from first principles, which is addressed by means of a cautious nonlinear
model predictive control (NMPC) approach that learns to improve its dynamics
model from data and safely increases racing performance. The approach makes use
of a Gaussian Process (GP) and takes residual model uncertainty into account
through a chance constrained formulation. We present a sparse GP approximation
with dynamically adjusting inducing inputs, enabling a real-time implementable
controller. The formulation is demonstrated in simulations, which show
significant improvement with respect to both lap time and constraint
satisfaction compared to an NMPC without model learning
A Computationally Efficient Path Following Control Strategy of Autonomous Electric Vehicles with Yaw Motion Stabilization
his paper proposes a computationally efficient path following control strategy of autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs) with yaw motion stabilization. First, the nonlinear control-oriented model including path following model, single track vehicle model, and Magic Formula tire model, are constructed. To handle the stability constraints with ease, the nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) technique is applied for path following issue. Here NMPC control problem is reasonably established with the constraints of vehicle sideslip angle, yaw rate, steering angle, lateral position error, and Lyapunov stability. To mitigate the online calculation burden, the continuation/ generalized minimal residual (C/GMRES) algorithm is adopted. The deadzone penalty functions are employed for handling the inequality constraints and holding the smoothness of solution. Moreover, the varying predictive duration is utilized in this paper so as to fast gain the good initial solution by numerical algorithm. Finally, the simulation validations are carried out, which yields that the proposed strategy can achieve desirable path following and vehicle stability efficacy, while greatly reducing the computational burden compared with the NMPC controllers by active set algorithm or interior point algorithm
A real-time nonlinear model predictive control strategy for stabilisation of an electric vehicle at the limits of handling
In this paper, we propose a real-time nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) strategy for stabilization of a vehicle near the limit of lateral acceleration using the rear axle electric torque vectoring configuration of an electric vehicle. A nonlinear four-wheel vehicle model that neglects the wheel dynamics is coupled with a nonlinear tire model to design three MPC strategies of different levels of complexity that are implementable online: one that uses a linearized version of the vehicle model and then solves the resulting quadratic program problem to compute the necessary longitudinal slips on the rear wheels, a second one that employs the real-time iteration scheme on the NMPC problem, and a third one that applies the primal dual interior point method on the NMPC problem instead until convergence. Then, a sliding mode slip controller is used to compute the necessary torques on the rear wheels based on the requested longitudinal slips. After analyzing the relative tradeoffs in performance and computational cost between the three MPC strategies by comparing them against the optimal solution in a series of simulation studies, we test the most promising solution in a high-fidelity environment
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