Controller Development and Implementation for Path Planning and Following in an Autonomous Urban Vehicle

Autonomous Land Vehicles (ALVs), due to their considerable potential applications in areas such as mining and defence, are currently the focus of intense research at robotics institutes worldwide. Control systems that provide reliable navigation, often in complex or previously unknown environments, is a core requirement of any ALV implementation. Three key aspects for the provision of such autonomous systems are: 1) path planning, 2) obstacle avoidance, and 3) path following. The work presented in this thesis, under the general umbrella of the ACFR’s own ALV project, the ‘High Speed Vehicle Project’, addresses these three mobile robot competencies in the context of an ALV based system. As such, it develops both the theoretical concepts and the practical components to realise an initial, fully functional implementation of such a system. This system, which is implemented on the ACFR’s (ute) test vehicle, allows the user to enter a trajectory and follow it, while avoiding any detected obstacles along the path.

[1]  Xiaoming Hu,et al.  Control of a car-like robot using a dynamic model , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[2]  Giuseppe Oriolo,et al.  Feedback control of a nonholonomic car-like robot , 1998 .

[3]  Alonzo Kelly,et al.  An intelligent, predictive control approach to the high-speed cross-country autonomous navigation problem , 1996 .

[4]  Carl D. Crane,et al.  Vector pursuit path tracking for autonomous ground vehicles , 2000 .

[5]  K. B. Oldham,et al.  An Atlas of Functions. , 1988 .

[6]  Winston Nelson,et al.  Continuous-curvature paths for autonomous vehicles , 1989, Proceedings, 1989 International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[7]  Birgit Graf,et al.  Flexible Path Planning for Nonholonomic Mobile Robots , 2001 .

[8]  Jean-Paul Laumond,et al.  Feasible Trajectories for Mobile Robots with Kinematic and Environment Constraints , 1986, IAS.

[9]  Muhammed Sahin,et al.  Intersection of spiral curve with circle , 1995 .

[10]  Yasufumi KONISHI,et al.  CONCEPT OF AUTONOMOUS LOADING AND PATH GENERATION ― , .

[11]  Arthur G.O. Mutambara,et al.  Design and analysis of control systems , 1999 .

[12]  Eduardo Mario Nebot,et al.  Optimization of the simultaneous localization and map-building algorithm for real-time implementation , 2001, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[13]  L. Dubins.  On Curves of Minimal Length with a Constraint on Average Curvature, and with Prescribed Initial and Terminal Positions and Tangents , 1957 .

[14]  Jürgen Guldner,et al.  Robust automatic steering control for look-down reference systems with front and rear sensors , 1999, IEEE Trans. Control. Syst. Technol..

[15]  Hugh F. Durrant-Whyte,et al.  A high integrity IMU/GPS navigation loop for autonomous land vehicle applications , 1999, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[16]  E. Nebot,et al.  Autonomous Navigation and Map building Using Laser Range Sensors in Outdoor Applications , 2000 .

[17]  Pierre Bessière,et al.  The Ariadne's Clew Algorithm , 1993, J. Artif. Intell. Res..

[18]  A. Kelly,et al.  TRAJECTORY GENERATION FOR CAR-LIKE ROBOTS USING CUBIC CURVATURE POLYNOMIALS , 2001 .

[19]  Thierry Fraichard,et al.  Collision-free and continuous-curvature path planning for car-like robots , 1997, Proceedings of International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[20]  S. Segawa,et al.  End of the beginning , 1990, Nature.

[21]  Yutaka Kanayama,et al.  Trajectory generation for mobile robots , 1984 .

[22]  Hobart R. Everett,et al.  Where am I?" sensors and methods for mobile robot positioning , 1996 .

[23]  C. Barus.  A treatise on the theory of screws , 1998 .

[24]  Dean A. Pomerleau,et al.  RALPH: rapidly adapting lateral position handler , 1995, Proceedings of the Intelligent Vehicles '95. Symposium.

[25]  R. M. H. Cheng,et al.  Optimal kinematic path tracking control of mobile robots with front steering , 1994, Robotica.

[26]  Edsger W. Dijkstra,et al.  A note on two problems in connexion with graphs , 1959, Numerische Mathematik.

[27]  Thomas G. Davis.  Total Least-Squares Spiral Curve Fitting , 1999 .

[28]  Thierry Fraichard,et al.  Smooth path planning for cars , 2001, Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164).

[29]  Nils J. Nilsson,et al.  A Formal Basis for the Heuristic Determination of Minimum Cost Paths , 1968, IEEE Trans. Syst. Sci. Cybern..

[30]  Thierry Fraichard,et al.  Planning continuous-curvature paths for car-like robots , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. IROS '96.

[31]  Y. Kanayama,et al.  Smooth Local Path Planning for Autonomous Vehicles , 1990, Autonomous Robot Vehicles.

[32]  L. Shepp,et al.  OPTIMAL PATHS FOR A CAR THAT GOES BOTH FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS , 1990 .

[33]  Jean-Paul Laumond,et al.  Guidelines in nonholonomic motion planning for mobile robots , 1998 .

[34]  Alonzo Kelly.  A Partial Analysis of the High Speed Autonomous Navigation Problem , 1994 .

[35]  J. D. Everett.  A Treatise on the Theory of Screws , 1901, Nature.

[36]  Alonzo Kelly.  A Feedforward Control Approach to the Local Navigation Problem for Autonomous Vehicles , 1994 .