Adaptive state space control of a camera platform for an autonomous ground vehicle

A novel multi-focal camera vision system for autonomous ground vehicles is presented. The camera platform is pivotable in pitch and yaw axis to provide a wide field of view. Camera configuration of yaw axis can be changed while retaining camera calibration for later reuse. But different configurations are likely to result in different system dynamics, which implies the need for a motion controller capable of adapting to distinct configurations. This paper presents a brief description of the platform design. Furthermore the design of the adaptive platform control law is presented together with experimental results to demonstrate the validity of the approach.