Title :
Conflict-free navigation in unknown urban environments
Author :
Shim, David H. ; Chung, Hoam ; Sastry, S. Shankar
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., California Univ., Berkeley, CA
Abstract :
This paper presents an autonomous exploration method in an unknown environment that uses model predictive control (MPC)-based obstacle avoidance with local map building by onboard sensing. An onboard laser scanner is used to build an online map of obstacles around the vehicle with outstanding accuracy. This local map is combined with a real-time MPC algorithm that generates a safe vehicle path, using a cost function that penalizes the proximity to the nearest obstacle. The adjusted trajectory is then sent to a position tracking layer in the hierarchical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) avionics architecture. In a series of experiments using a Berkeley UAV, the proposed approach successfully guided the vehicle safely through the urban canyon
Keywords :
aerospace control; aerospace robotics; collision avoidance; mobile robots; optical scanners; predictive control; remotely operated vehicles; telerobotics; conflict-free navigation; local map building; model predictive control; obstacle avoidance; onboard laser scanner; position tracking; unmanned aerial vehicle; urban canyon; Aerospace electronics; Cost function; Laser modes; Navigation; Predictive control; Predictive models; Remotely operated vehicles; Trajectory; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Vehicle safety;
Journal_Title :
Robotics & Automation Magazine, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/MRA.2006.1678136