Near Optimal Tracking Solution for Input Constrained UAV using MPC

In this paper, model predictive control (MPC) with cost function which is non-quadratic in control input is used to design a high level controller for fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Given the kinematic model for UAV with low level autopilot, the control objective is to track straight lines defined by a set of way points. The path tracking problem is transformed to a problem of regulating the distance and heading error from desired straight lines. The optimization problem for MPC incorporates information on future paths. It is shown that under certain conditions the solution to MPC problem approaches the Dubins path. The simulation results also demonstrate that using our proposed scheme, the UAV follows the Dubins path.

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