PVTOL_tracking_meth​ods_v2

Error Adaptive Tracking (EAT) method for an AUV (the PVTOL).

%% Error Adaptive Tracking (EAT) method for an AUV (the PVTOL).

%% By F. Diaz-del-Rio. % Univ. of Seville (SPAIN). April 2022

% Read the readme_first file

% Abstract: The tracking problem (that is, how to follow a previously memorized path) is one of the most important problems in mobile robots. Several methods can be formulated depending on the way the robot state is related to the path. “Trajectory tracking” is the most common method, with the controller aiming to move the robot toward a moving target point, like in a real-time servosystem. In the case of complex systems or systems under perturbations or unmodeled effects, like UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), other tracking methods can offer additional benefits. In this paper, methods that consider the dynamics of the path’s descriptor parameter (which can be called “error adaptive tracking”) are contrasted against trajectory tracking. A formal description of tracking methods is first presented, showing that two types of error adaptive tracking can be used with the same controller in any system. Then it is shown that the selection of an appropriate tracking rate improves error convergence and robustness for a UAV system, which is illustrated by simulation experiments. It is concluded that error adaptive tracking methods outperform trajectory tracking’s ones, producing a faster and more robust convergence tracking, while preserving, if required, the same tracking rate when convergence is achieved.

PVTOL is folowing Hauser, J. and Hindman, R. Maneuver regulation from trajectory tracking: Feedback linearizable systems (Proc. IFAC Symp. Nonlinear Contr. Syst. Design, 638-643. Tahoe City, CA, 1995).