Browse Topic: Trajectory control

Items (208)
This research, path planning optimization of the deep Q-network (DQN) algorithm is enhanced through integration with the enhanced deep Q-network (EDQN) for mobile robot (MR) navigation in specific scenarios. This approach involves multiple objectives, such as minimizing path distance, energy consumption, and obstacle avoidance. The proposed algorithm has been adapted to operate MRs in both 10 × 10 and 15 × 15 grid-mapped environments, accommodating both static and dynamic settings. The main objective of the algorithm is to determine the most efficient, optimized path to the target destination. A learning-based MR was utilized to experimentally validate the EDQN methodology, confirming its effectiveness. For robot trajectory tasks, this research demonstrates that the EDQN approach enables collision avoidance, optimizes path efficiency, and achieves practical applicability. Training episodes were implemented over 3000 iterations. In comparison to traditional algorithms such as A*, GA
Arumugam, VengatesanAlagumalai, VasudevanRajendran, Sundarakannan
Autonomous driving technology has indeed become a focal point of research globally, with significant efforts directed towards enhancing its key components: environment perception, vehicle localization, path planning, and motion control. These components work together to enable autonomous vehicles to navigate complex environments safely and efficiently. Among these components, environment perception stands out as critical, as it involves the robust, real-time detection of targets on the road. This process relies heavily on the integration of various sensors, making data fusion an indispensable tool in the early stages of automation. Sensor fusion between the camera and RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) has advantages because they are complementary sensors, where fusion combines the high lateral resolution from the vision system with the robustness in the face of adverse weather conditions and light invulnerability of RADAR, as well as having a lower production cost compared to the
Cury, Hachid HabibTeixeira, Evandro Leonardo SilvaSilva, Rafael Rodrigues
Single lane changing is one of the typical scenarios in vehicle driving. Planning an appropriate lane change trajectory is crucial in autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicle research. Existing polynomial trajectory planning mostly uses cubic or quintic polynomials, neglecting the lateral jerk constraints during lane changes. This study uses seventh-degree polynomials for lane change trajectory planning by considering the vehicle lateral jerk constraints. Simulation results show that the utilization of the seventh-degree method results in a 41% reduction in jerk compared to the fifth-degree polynomial. Furthermore, this study also proposes lane change trajectory schemes that can cater to different driving styles (e.g., safety, efficiency, comfort, and balanced performance). Depending on the driving style, the planned lane change trajectory ensures that the vehicle achieves optimal performance in one or more aspects during the lane change process. For example, with the trajectory that
Lai, FeiHuang, Chaoqun
Path planning in parking scenarios for vehicles with Ackermann steering characteristics is a well studied problem in the literature. However, the recent emergence of four-wheel steering (4WS) chassis has brought new opportunities to the field of motion planning. Compared with front-wheel steering (2WS), 4WS vehicles offer higher flexibility and new maneuver modes such as CrabWalk. To utilize such new potential to further improve parking efficiency, this paper proposes a four-wheel steering oriented planning algorithm for parking scenarios. First, Hybrid A*-4WS is proposed to search for a coarse trajectory from the starting pose to the parking slot, with improved node expansion mechanism to incorporate four-wheel steering characteristics. Then a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem is formulated with four-wheel steering kinematic model to fully utilize the maneuver capability of 4WS vehicles, with OBCA used for collision avoidance constraints. Finally, the two algorithms are sequentially
Song, YufeiLiu, YuanzhiXiong, LuTang, Chen
Learning-based motion planning methods such as reinforcement learning (RL) have shown great potential of improving the performance of autonomous driving. However, comprehensively ensuring safety and efficiency remain a challenge for motion planning technology. Most current RL methods output discrete behavioral action or continuous control action, which lack an intuitive representation of the future motion and then face the problems with unstable or reckless driving behavior. To address these issues, this work proposes an interaction-aware reinforcement learning approach based on hybrid parameterized action space for autonomous driving in lane change scenario. The proposed method can output high-level feasible trajectory and low-level actuator control command to control the vehicle’s motion together. Meanwhile, the reward functions for the local traffic environment are designed to evaluate the effect of the interaction between ego vehicle and surrounding vehicles. The contributions of
Li, ZhuorenJin, GuizheYu, RanLeng, BoXiong, Lu
The application trend of automated driving is gaining significant concern, making it increasingly crucial to validate automated driving within the stochastic simulated traffic flow environment from both time and cost perspectives. The stochastic traffic flow model attempts to encapsulate the variability inherent in traffic conditions through a stochastic process. This approach is particularly important as it accounts for the unpredictable nature of traffic, which is often not fully captured by traditional deterministic testing scenarios. However, while stochastic traffic flow models have made strides in simulating the behavior of traffic participants, there remains a significant oversight in the simulation of vehicles’ driving trajectories, leading to unrealistic portrayals of their behaviors. The trajectories of vehicles are a critical component in the overall behavior of traffic flow, and their accurate representation is essential for the simulation to reflect real-world driving
Gao, YiboCao, PengYang, Aixi
Hypersonic platforms provide a challenge for flight test campaigns due to the application's flight profiles and environments. The hypersonic environment is generally classified as any speed above Mach 5, although there are finer distinctions, such as “high hypersonic” (between Mach 10 to 25) and “reentry” (above Mach 25). Hypersonic speeds are accompanied, in general, by a small shock standoff distance. As the Mach number increases, the entropy layer of the air around the platform changes rapidly, and there are accompanying vortical flows. Also, a significant amount of aerodynamic heating causes the air around the platform to disassociate and ionize. From a flight test perspective, this matters because the plasma and the ionization interfere with the radio frequency (RF) channels. This interference reduces the telemetry links' reliability and backup techniques must be employed to guarantee the reception of acquired data. Additionally, the flight test instrumentation (FTI) package needs
Geometric methods based on Reeds–Shepp (RS) curves offer a practical approach for the parking path planning of unmanned mining truck, but discontinuous curvature can cause tire wear and road damage. To address this issue in mine scenario, a continuous curvature parking path planning method based on transition curve and model predictive control (MPC) is proposed for mine scenarios. Initially, according to the shovel position information issued by the cloud dispatching platform, a reference line is planned using RS curves. In order to mitigate the wear and tear of the tires and the damage to unstructured roads due to the in situ steering caused by the sudden change of the curvature, a transition curve consisting of clothoid–arc–clothoid that satisfies the kinematics of continuous vehicle steering is designed on the basis of RS curves to achieve the continuity of road curvature, which will contribute to the economy of tire and handling performance. The calculation of Fresnel integral
Zhang, HaosenChen, QiushiWu, Guangqiang
ABSTRACT This paper presents two techniques for autonomous convoy operations, one based on the Ranger localization system and the other a path planning technique within the Robotic Technology Kernel called Vaquerito. The first solution, Ranger, is a high-precision localization system developed by Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) that uses an inexpensive downward-facing camera and a simple lighting and electronics package. It is easily integrated onto vehicle platforms of almost any size, making it ideal for heterogeneous convoys. The second solution, Vaquerito, is a human-centered path planning technique that takes a hand-drawn map of a route and matches it to the perceived environment in real time to follow a route known to the operator, but not to the vehicle. Citation: N. Alton, M. Bries, J. Hernandez, “Autonomous Convoy Operations in the Robotic Technology Kernel (RTK)”, In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA, Novi, MI
Alton, NicholasBries, MatthewHernandez, Joseph
ABSTRACT In the field of ground robotics, the problems of global path planning and local obstacle avoidance are often treated separately but both are assessed in terms of a cost related to navigating through a given environment. Traversal cost is typically defined in terms of the required fuel [1], required travel time [2], and imparted mechanical wear [3] to guide route selection. Prior work [4] has shown that obstacle field complexity and navigation cost can be abstracted into quantitative dimensionless parameters. But determining the cost parameters and their relationship to field complexity requires running repeated path planning simulations [4]. This work presents a method for estimating navigation cost solely from geometric obstacle field complexity measures, namely the statistical properties of an obstacle’s shape and the density of obstacles within an environment, eliminating the requirement to run a path planner in a simulation environment. Citation: S. J. Harnett, S. Brennan
Harnett, Stephen J.Brennan, SeanReichard, KarlPentzer, JesseTau, SethGorsich, David
ABSTRACT Autonomous ground vehicles have the potential to reduce the risk to Soldiers in unfamiliar, unstructured environments. Unmanned operations in unstructured environments require the ability to guide the vehicles from their starting position to a target position. This paper proposes a framework to plan paths across such unstructured environments using a priori information about the environment as cost criteria into a multi-criteria, multi-agent path planner. The proposed multi-criteria, multi-agent path planner uses a penalty-based A* algorithm to plan multiple paths across the unstructured environment and uses entropy weighting for generating weights to calculate a multi-criteria cost with distance, risk, and soil trafficability. The paths generated by the proposed framework provide a better overall performance across the cost criteria and can be used as waypoints to navigate UGVs in off-road environments. Citation: S. Khatiwada, P. Murray-Tuite, M.J. Schmid, “Multi-Criteria
Khatiwada, SachetMurray-Tuite, PamelaSchmid, Matthias J
ABSTRACT Path planning is critical for mission implementation in various robot platforms and autonomous combat vehicles. With the efforts of electrification, battery energy storage as power sources is an ideal solution for robots and autonomous combat vehicles to improve capability and survivability. However, the battery’s limited energy and limited instantaneous power capability could become limiting factors for a mission. The energy and power constraints are also affected by the environment, battery state of health (SOH), and state of charge (SOC) significantly; in the worst case, a well-tested mission profile could fail in the real world if all aspects of the battery are not considered. This paper presents a framework to model the battery’s capability to support a whole mission and specific tasks under various environments. This real-time battery model can be built into an intelligent battery management system to support system-level mission planning, real-time task selection
Nan, XiDong-O’Brien, JingYan, LiangLi, PengHundich, AlexSkalny, David
ABSTRACT Self-driving or autonomous vehicles consist of software and hardware subsystems that perform tasks like sensing, perception, path-planning, vehicle control, and actuation. An error in one of these subsystems may manifest itself in any subsystem to which it is connected. Errors in sensor data propagate through the entire software pipeline from perception to path planning to vehicle control. However, while a small number of previous studies have focused on the propagation of errors in pose estimation or image processing, there has been little prior work on systematic evaluation of the propagation of errors through the entire autonomous architecture. In this work, we present a simulation study of error propagation through an autonomous system and work toward developing appropriate metrics for quantifying the error at both the subsystem and system levels. Finally, we demonstrate how the framework for analyzing error propagation can be applied to analysis of an autonomous systems
Carruth, Daniel W.Goodin, ChristopherDabbiru, LalithaScherer, NicklausJayakumar, Paramsothy
ABSTRACT Multi-robot bounding overwatch requires timely coordination of robot team members. Symbolic motion planning (SMP) can provide provably correct solutions for robot motion planning with high-level temporal logic task requirements. This paper aims to develop a framework for safe and reliable SMP of multi-robot systems (MRS) to satisfy complex bounding overwatch tasks constrained by temporal logics. A decentralized SMP framework is first presented, which guarantees both correctness and parallel execution of the complex bounding overwatch tasks by the MRS. A computational trust model is then constructed by referring to the traversability and line of sight of robots in the terrain. The trust model predicts the trustworthiness of each robot team’s potential behavior in executing a task plan. The most trustworthy task and motion plan is explored with a Dijkstra searching strategy to guarantee the reliability of MRS bounding overwatch. A robot simulation is implemented in ROS Gazebo to
Zheng, HuanfeiSmereka, Jonathon M.Mikulski, DariuszRoth, StephanieWang, Yue
ABSTRACT This work investigates the effects of obstacle uncertainty on the speed, distance, and feasibility of a planned traversal path. Simulation results for artificial and real-world environments are used to numerically quantify how geometric uncertainty within a map affects path traversal cost. A significant outcome of this research is the discovery of a relationship between increasing uncertainty and path cost. As obstacle uncertainty increases, previously planned routes can become infeasible as they effectively become blocked off due to uncertainty in the obstacle geometry. This paper illustrates a method that can serve to increase the speed, simplicity, and reliability of path planning, while allowing uncertainty to be included in the mobility analysis. Citation: S. Tau, S. Brennan, K. Reichard, J. Pentzer, D. Gorsich, “The Effects of Obstacle Dimensional Uncertainty on Path Planning in Cluttered Environments”, In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and
Tau, SethBrennan, SeanReichard, KarlPentzer, JesseGorsich, David
ABSTRACT Motion planning algorithms for vehicles in an offroad environment have to contend with the significant vertical motion induced by the uneven terrain. Besides the obvious problems related to driver comfort, for autonomous vehicles, such “bumpy” vertical motion can induce significant mechanical noise in the real time data acquired from onboard sensors such as cameras to the point that perception becomes especially challenging. This paper advances a framework to address the problem of vertical motion in offroad autonomous motion control for vehicular systems. This framework is first developed to demonstrate the stabilization of the sprung mass in a modified quarter-car tracking a desired velocity while traversing a terrain with changing height. Even for an idealized model such as the quarter-car the dynamics turn out to be nonlinear and a model-based controller is not obvious. We therefore formulate this control problem as a Markov decision process and solve it using deep
Salvi, AmeyaBuzhardt, JakeTallapragada, PhanindraKrovi, VenkatBrudnak, MarkSmereka, Jonathon M.
ABSTRACT Accurate terrain mapping is of paramount importance for motion planning and safe navigation in unstructured terrain. LIDAR sensors provide a modality, in the form of a 3D point cloud, that can be used to estimate the elevation map of the surrounding environment. But, working with the 3D point cloud data turns out to be challenging. This is primarily due to the unstructured nature of the point clouds, relative sparsity of the data points, occlusions due to negative slopes and obstacles, and the high computational burden of traditional point cloud algorithms. We tackle these problems with the help of a learning-based, efficient data processing approach for vehicle-centric terrain reconstruction using a 3D LIDAR. The 3D LIDAR point cloud is projected on the ground plane, which is processed by a generative adversarial network (GAN) architecture in the form of an image to fill in the missing parts of the terrain heightmap. We train the GAN model on artificially generated datasets
Sutavani, SarangZheng, AndrewJoglekar, AjinkyaSmereka, JonathonGorsich, DavidKrovi, VenkatVaidya, Umesh
ABSTRACT Autonomous vehicles rely on path planning to guide them towards their destination. These paths are susceptible to interruption by impassable hazards detected at the local scale via on-board sensors, and malicious disruption. We define robustness as an additional parameter which can be incorporated into multi-objective optimization functions for path planning. The robustness at any point is the output of a function of the isochrone map at that point for a set travel time. The function calculates the sum of the difference in area between the isochrone map and the isochrone map with an impassable semi-circle hazard inserted in each of the four cardinal directions. We calculate and compare two different Pareto paths which use robustness as an input parameter with different weights. Citation: T. Jonsson Damgaard, M. Rittri, P. Franz, A. Halota “Robust Path Planning in the Battlefield,” In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA
Damgaard, Thomas JonssonRittri, MikaelFranz, PatrickHalota, Anika
ABSTRACT All-Terrain off-road environments are the next frontier for autonomous vehicles to overcome. However, there are many obstacles in the way of this goal. Artificial intelligence has proven to be an invaluable asset in developing perception and path planning systems capable of overcoming these obstacles, but these AI systems fundamentally rely on the availability of data related to the operational environment in order to succeed. Currently, there is no unifying ontology for this data. This has inhibited progress on training AI by reducing the availability of cross-integrable datasets. We present ATLAS: A labeling ontology composed of over 200 labels specifically designed to encompass all-terrain off-road environments. This ontology will lay the ground work for creating scalable standardized all terrain off-road data and will enable future AI by providing an expansive and well labeled ontology that can push the field of autonomous vehicles to new heights. Citation: W. Smith, D
Smith, WestonGrabowsky, DavidMikulski, Dariusz
ABSTRACT Future autonomous combat vehicles will need to travel off-road through poorly mapped environments. Three-dimensional topography may be known only to a limited extent (e.g. coarse height), but this will likely be noisy and of limited resolution. For ground vehicles, 3D topography will impact how far ahead the vehicle can “see”. Higher vantage points and clear views provide much more useful path planning data than lower vantage points and occluded views from trees and structures. The challenge is incorporating this knowledge into a path planning solution. When should the robot climb higher to get a better view or else continue moving along the shortest path predicted by current information? We investigated the use of Deep Q-Networks (DQN) to reason over this decision space, comparing performance to conventional methods. In the presence of significant sensor noise, the DQN was more successful in finding a path to the target than A* for all but one type of terrain. Citation: E
Martinson, EricPurman, BenDallas, Andy
ABSTRACT Robot path-planning is a central task for navigation and most path-planners perform well in mapped environments with explicit obstacle boundaries. However, many obstacle fields are better defined by the probability of obstacles and obstacle geometries rather than by explicit locations. Few tools and data structures exist, other than repeated simulations, to predict robot mobility in these situations. Previously, it was shown that geometric obstacle properties could be used to estimate properties of paths routing around these obstacles, looking only at maps and avoiding the task of path planning [1]. This required knowing obstacle geometries relative to travel direction. This work presents a method for representing obstacle geometry, at arbitrary orientations and positions, and therefore a probabilistic model for determining if space near an obstacle is occupied. This paper explains the theory behind this method, uses this method to calculate the portion of a straight path
Harnett, Stephen J.Brennan, SeanReichard, KarlPentzer, Jesse
ABSTRACT Route planning plays an integral role in mission planning for ground vehicle operations in urban areas. Determining the optimum path through an urban area is a well understood problem for traditional ground vehicles; however, in the case of autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), additional factors must be considered. For a UGV, perception, rather than mobility, will be the limiting factor in determining operational areas. Current ground vehicle route planning techniques do not take perception concerns into account, and these techniques are not suited for route planning for UGVs. For this study, perception was incorporated into the route planning process by including expected sensor accuracy for GPS, LIDAR, and inertial sensors into the path planning algorithm. The path planner also accounts for additional factors related to UGV performance capabilities that affect autonomous navigation
Durst, Phillip J.Goodin, ChristopherSong, PeilinDu, Thien K.
ABSTRACT This paper presents a novel adaptive sampling method using intelligent UAVs in battlefields to help soldiers with awareness of environments. A UAV can perform as a robotic wingman in soldier formations, compensating for that cannot be scouted by soldiers, even being exposed to enemy fire. With portable size, the UAV is easily carried and flown for scouting tasks anytime. The flexibility of UAVs makes it possible to collect measurements sequentially. Each measurement is adaptively designed and determined from the Bayesian perspective to increase the fidelity of battlefields. Wavelet structure is considered to optimize measurement projections to substantially reduce the number of measurements based on compressive sensing framework. More specifically, each measurement is optimized by maximizing the posterior variance inferred from existing informative data. A motion planning algorithm for UAVs is designed based on the distribution of optimal measurements, striking a balance
Huang, ShuoLu, JianXie, LinTan, Jindong
ABSTRACT This research proposes a human-multirobot system with semi-autonomous ground robots and UAV view for contaminant localization tasks. A novel Augmented Reality based operator interface has been developed. The interface uses an over-watch camera view of the robotic environment and allows the operator to direct each robot individually or in groups. It uses an A* path planning algorithm to ensure obstacles are avoided and frees the operator for higher-level tasks. It also displays sensor information from each individual robot directly on the robot in the video view. In addition, a combined sensor view can also be displayed which helps the user pin point source information. The sensors on each robot monitor the contaminant levels and a virtual display of the levels is given to the user and allows him to direct the multiple ground robots towards the hidden target. This paper reviews the user interface and describes several initial usability tests that were performed. This research
Lee, SamLucas, Nathan P.Cao, AlexPandya, AbhilashEllis, R. Darin
Navigating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in urban airspace poses significant challenges for fast and efficient path planning due to the environment's complexity and dynamism. However, the existing research on UAV path planning has ignored the speed of algorithmic convergence and the smoothness of the generated path, which are critical for adapting to the dynamic changing of the urban airspace as well as for the safety of ground personnel, and the UAV itself. In this study, we propose an enhanced Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm that incorporates two heuristic functions: the compass heuristic and the inertia heuristic. These functions guide the ant agents in their movement towards the destination, aiming for faster convergence and smoother trajectories. The algorithm is evaluated using a gray-scale lattice map generated from ground personnel risk data in Suzhou City. The results indicate that the improved ACO path planning algorithm demonstrates both efficiency and quality
Wang, BofanZhao, ZhouyeHu, BoyaLiu, YufanRu, XiaoyuTong, ZiyueJia, Qing
Internet of vehicles (IoV) system as a typical application scenario of smart city, trajectory planning is one of the key technologies of the system. However, there are some unstructured spaces such as road shoulders and slopes pose challenges for trajectory planning of connected-automated vehicle (CAV). Therefore, this paper addresses the problem of CAV trajectory planning affected by unstructured space. Firstly, based on cyber-physical system (CPS), the cyber-physical trajectory planning system (CPTPS) framework was built. A high-precision digital twin CAV is established based on the physical properties and geometric constraints of CAV, and the digital model is mapped to cyber space of the CPTPS. In order to further reduce the energy consumption of the CAV during driving and the time spent from the start to the end, a model was established. Further, based on the sand cat swarm hybrid particle swarm optimization algorithm (SCSHPSO), global path planning for connected-automated vehicles
Ma, ShiziMa, ZhitaoShi, YingYang, ZhongkaiLai, DaoyinQi, Zhiguo
Autonomous vehicle technologies have become increasingly popular over the last few years. One of their most important application is autonomous shuttle buses that could radically change public transport systems. In order to enhance the availability of shuttle service, this article outlines a series of interconnected challenges and innovative solutions to optimize the operation of autonomous shuttles based on the experience within the Shuttle Modellregion Oberfranken (SMO) project. The shuttle shall be able to work in every weather condition, including the robustness of the perception algorithm. Besides, the shuttle shall react to environmental changes, interact with other traffic participants, and ensure comfortable travel for passengers and awareness of VRUs. These challenging situations shall be solved alone or with a teleoperator’s help. Our analysis considers the basic sense–plan–act architecture for autonomous driving. Critical components like object detection, pedestrian tracking
Dehghani, AliSalaar, HamzaSrinivasan, Shanmuga PriyaZhou, LixianArbeiter, GeorgLindner, AlisaPatino-Studencki, Lucila
In recent years, autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been receiving increasing attention from investors, automakers, and academia due to the envisioned potentials of AVs in enhancing safety, reducing emissions, and improving comfort. The crucial task in AV development boils down to perception and navigation. The research is underway, in both academia and industry, to improve AV’s perception and navigation and reduce the underlying computation and costs. This article proposes a model predictive control (MPC)-based local path-planning method in the Cartesian framework to overcome the long computation time and lack of smoothness of the Frenet method. A new equation is proposed in the MPC cost function to improve the safety in path planning. In this regard, an AV is built based on a 2015 Nissan Leaf S by modifying the drive-by-wire function and installing environment perception sensors and computation units. The custom-made AV then collected data in Norman, Oklahoma, and assisted in the
Arjmandzadeh, ZibaAbbasi, Mohammad HosseinWang, HanchenZhang, JiangfengXu , Bin
Resupply missions are critical logistical parts of modern warfare. Supply vehicles carrying fuel and ammunition are high-value targets meaning that the route chosen to approach such a mission is sensitive to risk and a critical time of delivery. We address the problem of a supply vehicle that needs to find a secure path to link up with a mobile frontline unit that has a fixed known itinerary. This paper presents a resupply path planning algorithm, the Adaptive Intercepting Path Planning (AIPP) algorithm, that balances risk and travel time to find the most suitable rendezvous point among several. The algorithm generates the least risky route that meets the rendezvous deadline
Damgaard, Thomas JonssonRittri, MikaelFranz, Patrick
A critical first step for a robot navigating an obstacle field is to plan a collision-free path through the environment. Historically, solutions for path planning largely use grid-based search methods particularly when guarantees are required that do not permit randomization-based methods. In large operational domains, gridding the search environment necessitates significant memory overhead and corresponding performance loss. To avoid gridded maps, grid-free path planners can achieve significant benefits to performance and memory overhead. These methods utilize visibility graphs with edge costs rather than grids with cell weights to represent possible path choices. This work presents methods to extend known 2D grid-free static environment path planners into higher dimensions to use these same planners for dynamic obstacle path planning via timespace representations. Such extensions to include time trajectories into the visibility graph readily admit path planning through highly dynamic
Harnett, Stephen J.Brennan, SeanPangborn, Herschel C.Pentzer, JesseReichard, Karl
Model predictive control (MPC) plays a crucial role in advancing intelligent vehicle technologies. Controllers designed based on various vehicle reference models, including kinematic and dynamic models (both linear and nonlinear), often demonstrate significant differences in control performance. This study contributes by comparing three different MPC control methods and proposing a comprehensive evaluation criterion that considers tracking accuracy, stability, and computational efficiency across various MPC designs. Joint simulations using CarSim and MATLAB/Simulink reveal distinct performance characteristics among the MPC variants. Specifically, kinematic MPC (KMPC) exhibits superior performance at low speeds, linear model predictive control (LMPC) performs best at moderate speeds, and nonlinear MPC (NMPC) achieves optimal performance at high speeds. These findings highlight the adaptive nature of MPC strategies to varying vehicle dynamics and operational conditions, emphasizing the
Lai, FeiXiao, HaoLiu, JunboHuang, Chaoqun
Efficient fire rescue operations in urban environments are critical for saving lives and reducing property damage. By utilizing connected vehicle systems (CVS) for firefighting vehicles planning, we can reduce the response time to fires while lowering the operational costs of fire stations. This research presents an innovative nonlinear mixed-integer programming model to enhance fire rescue operations in urban settings. The model focuses on expediting the movement of firefighting vehicles within intricate traffic networks, effectively tackling the complexities associated with collaborative dispatch decisions and optimal path planning for multiple response units. This method is validated using a small-scale traffic network, providing foundational insights into parameter impacts. A case study in Sioux Falls shows its superiority over traditional “nearest dispatch” methods, optimizing both cost and response time significantly. Sensitivity analyses involving clearance speed, clearance time
Wei, ShiboGu, YuLiu, Han
Nowadays, electrification is largely acknowledged as a crucial strategy to mitigate climate change, especially for the transportation sector through the transition from conventional vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs). As the demand for EVs continues to rise, the development of a robust and widespread charging infrastructure has become a top priority for governments and decision-makers. In this context, innovative approaches to energy management and sustainability, such as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), are gradually being employed, leading to new challenges, like grid service integration, charge scheduling and public acceptance. For instance, the planned use scenario, the user’s behavior, and the reachability of the geographical position influence the optimal energy management strategies both maintain user satisfaction and optimize grid impact. Firstly, this paper not only presents an extensive classification of charging infrastructure and possible planning activities related to different
Innocenti, EleonoraBerzi, LorenzoKociu, AljonDelogu, Massimo
A GE Aviation Systems report for a project, conducted under the CLEEN Program to develop the Flight Management System Weather Input Optimizer (FWIO), documents that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provided weather forecast data has a bias of 15 knots and a standard deviation of 13.3 knots for the 40 flights considered for the research. It also had a 0.47 bias in the temperature with a standard deviation of 0.27. The temperature errors are not as significant as the wind. There is a potential opportunity to reduce the operational cost by improving the weather forecast. The flight management system (FMS) currently uses the weather forecast, available before takeoff, to identify an optimized flight path with minimum operational costs depending on the selected speed mode. Such a flight plan could be optimum for a shorter flight because these flight path planning algorithms are very less susceptible to the accuracy of the weather forecast. However, the flight plan
Kushwaha, DineshKottackal, Sebin K
Today’s space programs are ambitious and require increased level of onboard autonomy. Various sensing techniques and algorithms were developed over the years to achieve the same. However, vision-based sensing techniques have enabled higher level of autonomy in the navigation of space systems. The major advantage of vison-based sensing is its ability to offer high precision navigation. However, the traditional vision-based sensing techniques translate raw image into data which needs to be processed and can be used to control the spacecraft. The increasingly complex mission requirements motivate the use of vision-based techniques that use artificial intelligence with deep learning. Availability of sufficient onboard processing resources is a major challenge. Though space-based deployment of deep learning is in the experimental phase, but the space industry has already adopted AI on the ground systems. Deep learning technique for spacecraft navigation in an unknown and unpredictable
Avanashilingam, Jayanth BalajiThokala, Satish
With the modernization of agriculture, the application of unmanned agricultural special vehicles is becoming increasingly widespread, which helps to improve agricultural production efficiency and reduce labor. Vehicle path-tracking control is an important link in achieving intelligent driving of vehicles. This paper designs a controller that combines path tracking with vehicle lateral stability for four-wheel steer/drive agricultural special electric vehicles. First, based on a simplified three-degrees-of-freedom vehicle dynamics model, a model predictive control (MPC) controller is used to calculate the front and rear axle angles. Then, according to the Ackermann steering principle, the four-wheel independent angles are calculated using the front and rear axle angles to achieve tracking of the target trajectory. For vehicle lateral stability, the sliding mode control (SMC) is used to calculate the required direct yaw moment control (DYC) of the vehicle, and wheel torque distribution
Huang, BinYang, NuorongMa, LiutaoWei, Lexia
In order to improve the obstacle avoidance ability of autonomous vehicles in complex traffic environments, speed planning, path planning, and tracking control are integrated into one optimization problem. An integrated vehicle trajectory planning and tracking control method combining a pseudo-time-to-collision (PTC) risk assessment model and model predictive control (MPC) is proposed. First, a risk assessment model with PTC probability is proposed by considering the differentiation of the risk on the relative motion states of the self and front vehicles, and the obstacle vehicles in the lateral and longitudinal directions. Then, a three-degrees-of-freedom vehicle dynamics model is established, and the MPC cost function and constraints are constructed from the perspective of the road environment as well as the stability and comfort of the ego-vehicle, combined with the PTC risk assessment model to optimize the control. Finally, a complex multi-vehicle obstacle avoidance scenario is
Yang, TaoLiu, LiangXu, Zhaoping
In order to improve the trajectory tracking accuracy and yaw stability of vehicles under extreme conditions such as high speed and low adhesion, a coordinated control method of trajectory tracking and yaw stability is proposed based on four-wheel-independent-driving vehicles with four-wheel-steering. The hierarchical structure includes the trajectory tracking control layer, the lateral stability control decision layer, and the four-wheel angle and torque distribution layer. Firstly, the upper layer establishes a three-degree-of-freedom vehicle dynamics model as the controller prediction model, the front wheel steering controller is designed to realize the lateral path tracking based on adaptive model predictive control algorithm and the longitudinal speed controller is designed to realize the longitudinal speed tracking based on PID control algorithm. Then, the middle layer decides the rear wheel steering angle and the additional yaw moment to maintain the vehicle's yaw stability based
Fu, YaoXie, RenminKaku, ChuyoZheng, Hongyu
Autonomous driving technology is more and more important nowadays, it has been changing the living style of our society. As for autonomous driving planning and control, vehicle dynamics has strong nonlinearity and uncertainty, so vehicle dynamics and control is one of the most challenging parts. At present, many kinds of specific vehicle dynamics models have been proposed, this review attempts to give an overview of the state of the art of vehicle dynamics models for autonomous driving. Firstly, this review starts from the simple geometric model, vehicle kinematics model, dynamic bicycle model, double-track vehicle model and multi degree of freedom (DOF) dynamics model, and discusses the specific use of these classical models for autonomous driving state estimation, trajectory prediction, motion planning, motion control and so on. Secondly, data driven or AI based vehicle models have been reviewed, and their specific applications in automatic driving and their modeling and training
Jin, LinggeZhao, ShengxuanXu, Nan
An autonomous vehicle is a comprehensive intelligent system that includes environment sensing, vehicle localization, path planning and decision-making control, of which environment sensing technology is a prerequisite for realizing autonomous driving. In the early days, vehicles sensed the surrounding environment through sensors such as cameras, radar, and lidar. With the development of 5G technology and the Vehicle-to-everything (V2X), other information from the roadside can also be received by vehicles. Such as traffic jam ahead, construction road occupation, school area, current traffic density, crowd density, etc. Such information can help the autonomous driving system understand the current driving environment more clearly. Vehicles are no longer limited to areas that can be sensed by sensors. Vehicles with different autonomous driving levels have different adaptability to the environment. If the current driving environment can be evaluated based on the above information, it can
Ni, HailongWu, Jian
A novel control method based on full-order sliding mode is proposed in this paper to solve the trajectory tracking control problem of unmanned vehicle formation. The complexity of the unmanned vehicle system is considered and a dynamic error model of the system is established . A full-order sliding mode control method is adopted to realize the cooperative control of unmanned vehicle systems. The unmanned vehicle system can force each vehicle accurately track the specified trajectory. The simulation results show that the designed full-order sliding mode control method has excellent performance compared with the traditional linear sliding mode control in terms of accuracy and robustness. In the case of large changes in different types of road surface and vehicle dynamics, the movement of unmanned vehicles is effectively controlled, and the trajectory tracking control of unmanned vehicle formation system is realized
Zhou, MinghaoChen, JiaxinCai, WeiFei, Xueran
In contemporary trajectory planning research, it is common to rely on point-mass model for trajectory planning. However, this often leads to the generation of trajectories that do not adhere to the vehicle dynamics, thereby increasing the complexity of trajectory tracking control. This paper proposes a local trajectory planning algorithm that combines sampling and sequential quadratic optimization, considering the vehicle dynamics model. Initially, the vehicle trajectory is characterized by utilizing vehicle dynamic control variables, including the front wheel angle and the longitudinal speed. Next, a cluster of sampling points for the anticipated point corresponding to the current vehicle position is obtained through a sampling algorithm based on the vehicle's current state. Then, the trajectory planning problem between these two points is modeled as a sequential quadratic optimization problem. By employing an offline method, the optimal trajectory set between the present position and
Liu, LongxiWang, ZihaoZhang, YunqingWu, Jinglai
Autonomous driving technology represents a significant direction for future transportation, encompassing four key aspects: perception, planning, decision-making, and control. Among these aspects, vehicle trajectory planning and control are crucial for achieving safe and efficient autonomous driving. This paper introduces a Combined Model Predictive Control algorithm aimed at ensuring collision-free and comfortable driving while adhering to appropriate lane trajectories. Due to the algorithm is divided into two layers, it is also called the Bi-Level Model Predictive Control algorithm (BLMPC). The BLMPC algorithm comprises two layers. The upper-level trajectory planner, to reduce planning time, employs a point mass model that neglects the vehicle's physical dimensions as the planning model. Additionally, obstacle avoidance cost functions are integrated into the planning process. In the upper trajectory planner, the fifth-order polynomial algorithm is also used to smooth the planned
Liu, XingchenKang, KaileiLiu, Xinhong
In the field of autonomous driving trajectory planning, it’s virtual to ensure real-time planning while guaranteeing feasibility and robustness. Current widely adopted approaches include decoupling path planning and velocity planning based on optimization method, which can’t always yield optimal solutions, especially in complex dynamic scenarios. Furthermore, search-based and sampling-based solutions encounter limitations due to their low resolution and high computational costs. This paper presents a novel spatio-temporal trajectory planning approach that integrates both search-based planning and optimization-based planning method. This approach retains the advantages of search-based method, allowing for the identification of a global optimal solution through search. To address the challenge posed by the non-convex nature of the original solution space, we introduce a spatio-temporal semantic corridor structure, which constructs a convex feasible set for the problem. Trajectory
Zhong, LiangLu, ChanggangWu, Jian
Distributed drive electric vehicles (DDEVs), characterized by independently controllable torque at each wheel, redundant actuators, and highly integrated drive systems, are considered as the optimal platform for achieving intelligent driving with high safety and efficiency. This paper focuses on the trajectory tracking and lateral stability coordination control problems in high-speed emergency collision avoidance and autonomous lane change scenarios for DDEVs. A trajectory tracking control algorithm is proposed based on model predictive control (MPC) and coordinated optimization of distributed drive torques. The method adopts a hierarchical control architecture. Firstly, the upper-level trajectory planning layer calculates the lane change trajectory data. Based on the trajectory planning results, the middle-level controller designs a time-varying linear model predictive control method to solve the desired front wheel steering angle and additional yaw moment. Then, considering the
Xiao, BinZou, XiaojunSong, WeiWang, TaoWang, LiangmoZong, Yuhua
Driver’s license examinations require the driver to perform either a parallel parking or a similar maneuver as part of the on-road evaluation of the driver’s skills. Self-driving vehicles that are allowed to operate on public roads without a driver should also be able to perform such tasks successfully. With this motivation, the S-shaped maneuverability test of the Ohio driver’s license examination is chosen here for automatic execution by a self-driving vehicle with drive-by-wire capability and longitudinal and lateral controls. The Ohio maneuverability test requires the driver to start within an area enclosed by four pylons and the driver is asked to go to the left of the fifth pylon directly in front of the vehicle in a smooth and continuous manner while ending in a parallel direction to the initial one. The driver is then asked to go backwards to the starting location of the vehicle without stopping the vehicle or hitting the pylons. As a self-driving vehicle should do a much
Cao, XinchengGuvenc, Levent
Autonomous driving in real-world urban traffic must cope with dynamic environments. This presents a challenging decision-making problem, e.g. deciding when to perform an overtaking maneuver or how to safely merge into traffic. The traditional autonomous driving algorithm framework decouples prediction and decision-making, which means that the decision-making and planning tasks will be carried out after the prediction task is over. The disadvantage of this approach is that it does not consider the possible impact of ego vehicle decisions on the future states of other agents. In this article, a decision-making and planning method which considers longitudinal interaction is represented. The method’s architecture is mainly composed of the following parts: trajectory sampling, forward simulation, trajectory scoring and trajectory selection. For trajectory sampling, a lattice planner is used to sample three-dimensionally in both the time horizon and the space horizon. Three sampling modes
Chen, JiaqiWu, JianYK, Shi
In emergency circumstances, it is essential for autonomous vehicles to balance stability and dynamic performance to attain a faster travel speed while preserving stability. It is not unusual to find traffic accidents caused by suddenly present intruders on the road. In this situation, if there is not enough distance for the vehicle to brake immediately, the vehicle needs to operate with a relatively big steering angle and cornering speed to avoid collision while maintaining driving stability. This can be a challenging scenario even for a human driver, let alone autonomous driving. Especially, this poses a burden on trajectory optimization. In this case, neither over-conservative nor unachievable trajectory and speed profiles are eligible. Technically, the difficulty lies in an accurate maximum cornering speed estimation due to the impact of nonlinear tire force responses in these scenarios with large steering angles and high cornering speed. While this difficulty can be addressed by
Lou, BaichuanZhao, BolinHe, XiangkunRen, DongchunLv, Chen
Vehicle navigation in off-road environments is challenging due to terrain uncertainty. Various approaches that account for factors such as terrain trafficability, vehicle dynamics, and energy utilization have been investigated. However, these are not sufficient to ensure safe navigation of optionally manned ground vehicles that are prone to detection using thermal infrared (IR) seekers in combat missions. This work is directed towards the development of a vehicle IR signature aware navigation stack comprised of global and local planner modules to realize safe navigation for optionally manned ground vehicles. The global planner used A* search heuristics designed to find the optimal path that minimizes the vehicle thermal signature metric on the map of terrain’s apparent temperature. The local planner used a model-predictive control (MPC) algorithm to achieve integrated motion planning and control of the vehicle to follow the path waypoints provided by the global planner. Vehicle
Lonari, YashodeepNaber, JeffreyKorivi, VamshiTison, NathanRynes, PeterYeefeng, Ruan
This paper explores the role and challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms, specifically AI-based software elements, in autonomous driving systems. These AI systems are fundamental in executing real-time critical functions in complex and high-dimensional environments. They handle vital tasks like multi-modal perception, cognition, and decision-making tasks such as motion planning, lane keeping, and emergency braking. A primary concern relates to the ability (and necessity) of AI models to generalize beyond their initial training data. This generalization issue becomes evident in real-time scenarios, where models frequently encounter inputs not represented in their training or validation data. In such cases, AI systems must still function effectively despite facing distributional or domain shifts. This paper investigates the risk associated with overconfident AI models in safety-critical applications like autonomous driving. To mitigate these risks, methods for training AI
Pitale, Mandar ManoharAbbaspour, AlirezaUpadhyay, Devesh
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