Stability of double-integrator plants controlled using real-time SLAM maps

The position control of agents having double-integrator dynamic response, with explicit dependence on an estimator that simultaneously reconstructs agent states and refines a feature map, is considered. We show that under broad conditions the phase and gain margins of an equivalent control system based on absolute navigation sensors can be significantly eroded when the dynamic map is used. The closed-loop bandwidth achieved depends strongly on the bandwidth of the filter, which is in turn dictated by the ratio of process to sensor noise, on the control gains, and on the arrangement of features being tracked. The findings are relevant to the integration of SLAM algorithms in high-performance positioning of mobile agents. A specific example is the case undersea robots working near large structures, where traditional navigation systems may not be practical.