Optimal Motion Planning of Unmanned Ground Vehicle using SDRE Controller in the Presence of Obstacles

One of the obstacle avoidance and path planning techniques is a method using the nonlinear sub-optimal regulator called SDRE. In this paper, a closed-loop nonlinear suboptimal controller is designed via State-Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) and is applied to Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) system. SDRE presents a well-organized and efficient design method of a controller for nonlinear systems; furthermore, one general limitation of optimal path planning, i.e., obstacles is considered, and a proper strategy introduced to deal with this constraint. Obstacle avoidance method used in this paper based on the concept of Navigation function and Artificial Potential Field method. Capabilities of SDRE method yield an excellent opportunity for combination with the obstacle avoidance approaches. The results show that the proposed SDRE strategy leads to an efficient control law by which the UGV avoids obstacles and moves from an arbitrary initial point x0 to a target point.