Moving path following for autonomous robotic vehicles

This paper introduces the moving path following (MPF) problem for autonomous robotic vehicles, in which the vehicle is required to converge to and follow a desired geometric moving path, without a specific temporal specification. This case generalizes the classical path following problem, where the given path is stationary. Possible tasks that can be formulated as a MPF problem include terrain/air vehicles target tracking and gas clouds monitoring, where the velocity of the target/cloud specifies the motion of the path. Using the concept of parallel-transport frame associated to the geometric path, we derive the MPF kinematic-error dynamics for 3D paths with arbitrary motion specified by its linear and angular velocity. An application is made to the problem of tracking a target on the ground using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The control law is derived using Lyapunov methods. Formal convergence results are provided and hardware in the loop simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.