Cooperative Control for Multiple Autonomous Vehicles Using Descriptor Functions

The paper presents a novel methodology for the control management of a swarm of autonomous vehicles. The vehicles, or agents, may have different skills, and be employed for different missions. The methodology is based on the definition of descriptor functions that model the capabilities of the single agent and each task or mission. The swarm motion is controlled by minimizing a suitable norm of the error between agents’ descriptor functions and other descriptor functions which models the entire mission. The validity of the proposed technique is tested via numerical simulation, using different task assignment scenarios

Distributed Real-Time Hardware- and Man-in-the-loop Simulation for the ICARO II Unmanned Systems Autopilot

The autopilot market for small and research UAVs offers several products, but most of them, although widely configurable or even open-source, do not constitute a practical and safe development system for custom guidance, navigation and control systems. The ICARO project aims at providing the small UAV community with a valid autopilot alternative. The ICARO autopilot exploits rapid control system prototyping techniques and immersive manned simulation with the possibility of testing the autopilot using the Hardware- In-the-Loop (HIL) approach. This paper describes the hardware-in-the-loop and man-in-the-loop simulator for the ICARO II platform together with the synchronization protocol we developed to keep simulator and autopilot synchronized. Experimental evidence of the effectiveness of the synchronization protocol is given

Surveillance and habitat diversity affect European brown hare ( Lepus europaeus ) density in protected breeding areas

AbstractThe European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) is an important game species throughout Europe. In Italy, for preventing the introduction of allochthonous strains, the management of brown hare populations has focused on the establishment of small protected areas (ZRCs), appositely managed for disposing of wild-born hares for restocking hunting territories. We investigated the effects of both land cover and surveillance on hare density and habitat preferences in 20 ZRCs, monitored twice per year (pre- and post-breeding periods) between 1997 and 2017. Density, as assessed by spotlight counts, ranged between 2.8 and 47.0 ind/km2 in spring and 5.0 and 68.4 ind/km2 in autumn. Surveillance, percent length of protected boundaries, year of institution and habitat diversity, as assessed by Shannon's Index, were the main factors affecting hare density. During their foraging activity, hares selected ryegrass, hayfields and lucerne, while avoided maize stubble and ploughed fields and were never recorded in poplar plantations or next to human settlements. While the effects of habitat heterogeneity on hare density have been widely studied, we suggest that the involvement of local stakeholders may be of paramount importance for ensuring effective conservation measures

Swarm Obstacle and Collision Avoidance using Descriptor Functions

The descriptor function framework is used as tool for the control management of a swarm of dynamic agents. In this framework, a provision is made for obstacle and collision avoidance, thus improving the potential of the methodology from previous results. Obstacle and collision avoidance terms are added to the overall mission performance index, and the resulting control law moves the agents along obstacle and collision free trajectories. The analytical derivation is validated via numerical simulations

Methods for Multiloop Identification of Visual and Neuromuscular Pilot Responses

In this paper, identification methods are proposed to estimate the neuromuscular and visual responses of a multiloop pilot model. A conventional and widely used technique for simultaneous identification of the neuromuscular and visual systems makes use of cross-spectral density estimates. This paper shows that this technique requires a specific noninterference hypothesis, often implicitly assumed, that may be difficult to meet during actual experimental designs. A mathematical justification of the necessity of the noninterference hypothesis is given. Furthermore, two methods are proposed that do not have the same limitations. The first method is based on autoregressive models with exogenous inputs, whereas the second one combines cross-spectral estimators with interpolation in the frequency domain. The two identification methods are validated by offline simulations and contrasted to the classic method. The results reveal that the classic method fails when the noninterference hypothesis is not fulfilled; on the contrary, the two proposed techniques give reliable estimates. Finally, the three identification methods are applied to experimental data from a closed-loop control task with pilots. The two proposed techniques give comparable estimates, different from those obtained by the classic method. The differences match those found with the simulations. Thus, the two identification methods provide a good alternative to the classic method and make it possible to simultaneously estimate human's neuromuscular and visual responses in cases where the classic method fails

ISME trends: Autonomous surface and underwater vehicles for geoseismic survey

The paper presents the recent and ongoing activities of the Italian Center named ISME on the use of Autonomous Surface Crafts (ASCs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for geoseismic survey. In particular, the paper will focus on the technologies and the algorithms developed in the framework of the H2020 European Project WiMUST

ISME activity on the use of autonomous surface and underwater vehicles for acoustic surveys at sea

The paper presents an overview of the recent and ongoing research activities of the Italian Interuniversity Center on Integrated Systems for the Marine Environment (ISME) in the field of geotechnical seismic surveying. Such activities, performed in the framework of the H2020 European project WiMUST, include the development of technologies and algorithms for Autonomous Surface Crafts and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles to perform geotechnical seismic surveying by means of a team of robots towing streamers equipped with acoustic sensors

The Widely scalable Mobile Underwater Sonar Technology (WiMUST) H2020 project: first year status

The Widely scalable Mobile Underwater Sonar Technology (WiMUST) project aims at developing a system of cooperative Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for geotechnical surveying and geophysical exploration. The paper reports about the first year activities and it gives an overview of the main objectives and methods. Results relative to distributed sensor array, cooperative control, mission planning, communications and preliminary experiments are summarized

Overview and first year progress of the Widely scalable Mobile Underwater Sonar Technology H2020 project

open20siPubblicazione su rivista di contributo a Convegno -10th IFAC Conference on Control Applications in Marine Systems (CAMS2016)The Widely scalable Mobile Underwater Sonar Technology (WiMUST) project is an H2020 Research and Innovation Action funded by the European Commission. The action's main goal is to develop robotic technologies exploiting Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for geotechnical surveying and geophysical exploration. The paper briefly describes the project and its state of the art after the first year of activities.openIndiveri, Giovanni; Antonelli, Gianluca; Arrichiello, Filippo; Caffaz, Andrea; Caiti, Andrea; Casalino, Giuseppe; Volpi, Nicola Catenacci; de Jong, Ivan Bielic; De Palma, Daniela; Duarte, Henrique; Gomes, Joao Pedro; Grimsdale, Jonathan; Jesus, Sergio; Kebkal, Konstantin; Kelholt, Elbert; Pascoal, Antonio; Polani, Daniel; Pollini, Lorenzo; Simetti, Enrico; Turetta, AlessioIndiveri, Giovanni; Antonelli, Gianluca; Arrichiello, Filippo; Caffaz, Andrea; Caiti, Andrea; Casalino, Giuseppe; Volpi, Nicola Catenacci; de Jong, Ivan Bielic; De Palma, Daniela; Duarte, Henrique; Gomes, Joao Pedro; Grimsdale, Jonathan; Jesus, Sergio; Kebkal, Konstantin; Kelholt, Elbert; Pascoal, Antonio; Polani, Daniel; Pollini, Lorenzo; Simetti, Enrico; Turetta, Alessi

Widely scalable mobile underwater sonar technology: an overview of the H2020 WiMUST project

The Widely scalable Mobile Underwater Sonar Technology (WIMUST) project is an H2020 Research and Innovation Action funded by European Commission. The project aims at developing a system of cooperative autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for geotechnical surveying and geophysical exploration. The paper describes the main objectives of the project, given an overview of the methodologies adopted to achieve them, and summarizes the work done in the first year of R&D work