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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering
Coordination Variables And Consensus Building In Multiple Vehicle Systems, Tim Mclain
Coordination Variables And Consensus Building In Multiple Vehicle Systems, Tim Mclain
Faculty Publications
Much of the research focus in the cooperative control community has been on formation control problems. This focus may be due to the fact that the group control problem can be reduced to well-established single-agent control problems by employing a leader-follower type control strategy. For example, single-agent path planning and trajectory generation techniques can be employed for the leader, and conventional trajectory tracking strategies can be employed for the followers. Indeed, formation control problems are much like linear systems theory: we search where the light is the brightest. It can be argued that formation control problems are the simplest type …
Almost Global Asymptotic Formation Stabilization Using Navigation Functions, Amit Kumar, Herbert G. Tanner
Almost Global Asymptotic Formation Stabilization Using Navigation Functions, Amit Kumar, Herbert G. Tanner
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications
We present a navigation function through which a group of mobile agents can be coordinated to achieve a particular formation, both in terms of shape and orientation, while avoiding collisions between themselves and with obstacles in the environment. Convergence is global and complete, subject to the constraints of the navigation function methodology. Algebraic graph theoretic properties associated with the interconnection graph are shown to affect the shape of the navigation function. The approach is centralized but the potential function is constructed in a way that facilitates complete decentralization. The strategy presented will also serve as a point of reference and …
Initial Experiments In The Cooperative Control Of Unmanned Air Vehicles, Derek R. Nelson, Timothy W. Mclain, Reed S. Christiansen, Randal W. Beard, David Johansen
Initial Experiments In The Cooperative Control Of Unmanned Air Vehicles, Derek R. Nelson, Timothy W. Mclain, Reed S. Christiansen, Randal W. Beard, David Johansen
Faculty Publications
This paper addresses cooperative control for a team of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Specifically, a team of three small UAVs is controlled to perform a cooperative timing mission. Starting at loiter locations distributed around the periphery of a 2 km square battle area, the UAVs cooperatively plan paths to arrive at a target at the center of the battle area in sequence at 10 sec intervals. Cooperative path planning is performed using the methodology of coordination variables and coordination functions. Coordination and waypoint path planning are centralized on a ground station computer. Experiments have been performed using BYU’s fleet of …