PATH FOLLOWING AND FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS EVALUATION OF TRAJECTORY TRACKING ALGORITHMS IN UAV NAVIGATION, 22-27.

Shreeram Murali, Lokesha K, and Raji George

Keywords

Path planning, guidance, navigation, unmanned aerial vehicles, Bezier splines, trajectory tracking

Abstract

Trajectory tracking in autonomous vehicles is concerned with the formulation of control laws which force a vehicle to follow a precise path. Guidance and control systems are used in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for trajectory tracking. This paper presents the Software in the Loop performance evaluation of two widely accepted planning and trajectory-tracking algorithms used in the navigation of UAVs. The two algorithms evaluated are a L1 straight-line controller and a cubic Bezier controller. The L1 controller has a straight- line path planning combined with a non-linear guidance logic, whereas the cubic Bezier-spline controller fits a cubic B-spline curve for path planning combined with a layered proportional–integral– derivative controller for guidance. The evaluation parameters for these algorithms are total path length, waypoint accuracy, roll characteristics, and cross-track error. Based on the observations made on the performance of parameters, inferences are made on endurance and flight stability.

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