Fault-tolerant formation driving mechanism designed for heterogeneous MAVs-UGVs groups

A fault-tolerant method for stabilization and navigation of 3D heterogeneous formations is proposed in this paper. The presented Model Predictive Control (MPC) based approach enables to deploy compact formations of closely cooperating autonomous aerial and ground robots in surveillance scenarios without the necessity of a precise external localization. Instead, the proposed method relies on a top-view visual relative localization provided by the micro aerial vehicles flying above the ground robots and on a simple yet stable visual based navigation using images from an onboard monocular camera. The MPC based schema together with a fault detection and recovery mechanism provide a robust solution applicable in complex environments with static and dynamic obstacles. The core of the proposed leader-follower based formation driving method consists in a representation of the entire 3D formation as a convex hull projected along a desired path that has to be followed by the group. Such an approach provides non-collision solution and respects requirements of the direct visibility between the team members. The uninterrupted visibility is crucial for the employed top-view localization and therefore for the stabilization of the group. The proposed formation driving method and the fault recovery mechanisms are verified by simulations and hardware experiments presented in the paper

Observer-Based Leader-Following Consensus for Linear Multiagent Systems with a Leader of Unknown Input

In this article, a distributed observer-based tracking control protocol is proposed for linear multiagent systems having a leader with unknown nonzero input. The leader is assumed to be uncooperative, i.e., no communication link is available for the leader to transmit its state or control input to the followers. Based on the relative output measurements and the information received from the neighbors, a local controller for each follower is designed, such that the states of the followers converge to the states of the leader. In the proposed algorithm, no global information of the network topology is needed for the controller design. Two simulation examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.Scopu

Vision-based curved lane keeping control for intelligent vehicle highway system

This article addresses the coordinated longitudinal and lateral motion control for an intelligent vehicle highway system. The strategy of this work consists of defining the edges of the traveled lane using a vision sensor. According to the detected boundaries, a constrained path-following method is proposed to drive the longitudinal and the lateral vehicle’s motion. Error constraints of the intelligent vehicle highway system position are manipulated by including the function of barrier Lyapunov in designing the guidance algorithm for the intelligent vehicle highway system. To calculate the necessary forces that would steer the vehicle to the desired path, a control design is proposed that integrates the sign of the error for the compensation of the uncertain vehicle’s parameters. The Lyapunov function is later used to minimize the path-following errors and to guarantee a stable system. The efficiency of the developed approach is proved by numerical simulations.Scopu

Fault-tolerant fully distributed leader-following consensus for linear multi-agent systems with non-cooperative leader

In this paper, the problem of distributed fault-tolerant control for multi-agent systems is studied. In the proposed method, the communication graph of the network is not needed to be known by the agents. The leader agent is active with a bounded non-zero control input. The control input of the leader and its bound is not known by any follower. Moreover, it is assumed that the leader is non-cooperative and does not communicate with any other agent. By considering all these limitations, the control input of the followers are designed such that the followers can track the leader in the presence of bounded additive actuator faults. A numerical simulation is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Qatar FoundationQatar National Research FundScopu

Platoon Transitional Maneuver Control System: A Review

Connectivity and autonomy are considered two of the most promising technologies to improve mobility, fuel consumption, travel time, and traffic safety in the automated transportation industry. These benefits can be realized through vehicle platooning. A vehicle platoon is composed of a group of connected automated vehicles (CAVs) traveling together at consensual speed, following the leading vehicle (leader) while maintaining a prespecified inter-vehicle distance. This paper reviews the different existing control techniques associated with the transitional platoon maneuvers such as merge/split and lane change. Different longitudinal and lateral vehicle dynamics that are mainly used in the transitional platoon maneuvers are discussed. The most used control algorithms for both longitudinal and lateral control used for transitional platoon maneuvers are reviewed and the advantages and limitations of each control strategy are discussed. The most recent articles on platoon control maneuvers have been analyzed based on the proposed control algorithm, homogeneously or heterogeneously of platoon members, type of platoon maneuver, the aim of control problem, type of implementation, and used simulation tools. This paper also discusses different trajectory planning techniques used in lateral motion control and studies the most recent research related to trajectory planning for automated vehicles and summarizes them based on the used trajectory planning technique, platoon or/and lane change, the type of traffic, and the cost functions. Finally, this paper explores the open issues and directions for future research.Scopu