Autonomous Collision Avoidance for a Teleoperated UAV Based on a Super-Ellipsoidal Potential Function

Abstract

This thesis presents the design of a super-ellipsoidal potential function (SEPF) that can be used, in a static and dynamic environment, for autonomous collision avoidance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a 3-dimensional space. In the design of the SEPF, we have the full control over the shape and size of the potential function. In our proposed approach, a teleoperated UAV can not only autonomously avoid collision with surrounding objects but also track the operator' control input as closely as possible. As a result, an operator can always be in control of the UAV for his/her high-level guidance and navigation task without worrying too much about the UAV collision avoidance while it is being teleoperated. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a human-in-the-loop simulation using virtual robot experimentation platform (v-rep) and Matlab programs and experimentation using a physical quadrotor UAV in a laboratory environment.