Predictive Control for Path-Following. From Trajectory Generation to the Parametrization of the Discrete Tracking Sequences
Abstract
This chapter discusses a series of developments on predictive control for path following via a priori generated trajectory for autonomous aerial vehicles. The strategy partitions itself into offline and runtime procedures with the assumed goal of moving the computationally expensive part into the offline phase and of leaving only tracking decisions to the runtime. First, it will be recalled that differential flatness represents a well-suited tool for generating feasible reference trajectory. Next, an optimization-based control problem which minimizes the tracking error for the nonholonomic system is formulated and further enhanced via path following mechanisms. Finally, possible changes of the selection of sampling times along the path and their impact on the predictive control formulation will be discussed in detail.