Quaternion Control for Autonomous Path Following Maneuvers
James K. Hall, Randal W. Beard, Timothy McClain · Infotech@Aerospace 2012 · 2012
We develop aerobatic maneuvering for obstacle avoidance by autonomous miniature air vehicles (MAVs) using a path following control law. A method for developing maneuver paths that accounts for maneuver boundary conditions is presented along with a method for determining the orthogonal distance (position error) from the vehicle to the path. The control law is constructed as a unit-norm quaternion with position and rate components with a Lyapunov proof to demonstrate stability. The performance of the quaternion path following strategy in tracking various maneuvers appropriate for obstacle avoidance is demonstrated using the Aviones flight simulation environment.