Shivam, Amit (Indian Institute of Science), Ratnoo, Ashwini (Indian Institute of Science)

Curvature-Constrained Vector Field for Path Following Guidance

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "Path Planning V" (ThC3), Thursday, June 17, 2021, 17:40−18:00, Edessa

2021 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), June 15-18, 2021, Athens, Greece

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on April 20, 2024

Abstract

This paper introduces a new vector field guidance method to generate safe and continuously flyable paths for unmanned air vehicles. The central idea of the proposed vector field approach is imbibed in the commanded course angle, which is expressed as a nonlinear function of the position error with respect to the desired path. Considering straight line and circular paths, the asymptotic behaviour of position error is shown to converge to zero. Analysis of path curvature establishes a significantly lower maximum value as compared to a popular existing method. Simulation results are presented considering a two-dimensional kinematic model. Overall, the method presents an easily computable path following a solution with superior curvature characteristics.