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Real-Time Path Generation and Obstacle Avoidance for Multirotors: A Novel Approach

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Abstract

Multirotors, among all aerial vehicles, are fundamental instruments in many situations, i.e. video recording of sport events, leisure, environmental monitoring before or after a disaster. In particular, in the context of environmental monitoring, the possibility of following a predetermined path while avoiding obstacles is extremely relevant. In this work, we propose a novel method for path definition in presence of obstacles, which describes a curve as the intersection of two surfaces. The planner, based on that path definition along with a Cascaded control architecture and utilizing a nonlinear control technique for both control loops (position and attitude), creates a framework to manipulate the multicopters’ behaviors. The method is demonstrated to be able to generate a safe path taking into account obstacles perceived in real-time and avoids collisions. These algorithms are embedded in a software package to control the flight of a fully autonomous AscTec Firefly hexacopter with two cameras and onboard processing capabilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitá di Genova, DIBRIS, via all’Opera Pia 13, 16145, Genova, Italy

    Phuong D. H. Nguyen, Carmine T. Recchiuto & Antonio Sgorbissa

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  1. Phuong D. H. Nguyen
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  2. Carmine T. Recchiuto
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  3. Antonio Sgorbissa
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Correspondence to Carmine T. Recchiuto.

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H. Nguyen, P.D., Recchiuto, C.T. & Sgorbissa, A. Real-Time Path Generation and Obstacle Avoidance for Multirotors: A Novel Approach. J Intell Robot Syst 89, 27–49 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-017-0478-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-017-0478-9

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