Communication Dependent Control of Multi-Vehicle Formations
Abstract
The expanded role of unmanned systems in military and civilian applications has introduced interesting new questions in multi-vehicle coordination and communication. The goal of this research is to derive steering algorithms utilizing event- and self-triggered control,capable of driving vehicles to a particular formation while simultaneously coordinating inter-agent communication instances (i.e. surfacing times). This goal is broken up into two segments: multi-vehicle control and communication control. By leveraging previous work in tracking control, we show the ability to combine kinematic and vehicle dynamic controllers to create a model that easily adapts to changing vehicle dynamics and time-varying desired configurations. Target and trajectory tracking are demonstrated, both of which are useful in conducting autonomous missions. Additionally, we present a permutation algorithm to optimally assign vehicles to formation positions based on proximity. This work combines the multi-vehicle and communication-coordinating control to present a framework capable of steering a multivehicle system to a time-varying configuration without relying on all-to-all communication. The contributions of this work may enhance the capability of underwater sampling by increasing formation precision subject to intermittent communication.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 11, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1013472
Entities
People
- Aaron M. Sims
Organizations
- United States Naval Academy