A Geometric Based Method for Distance-to-Contact Calculations in Two Dimensions
Chuling Wu, Roger W. Mayne · 2000
Abstract This paper considers distance-to-contact (DTC) calculation strategies to improve computational efficiency in two dimensional motion planning. A basic DTC calculation approach is described which combines geometric concepts and iterative calculations in identifying the minimum distance between two separated objects of interest. The developed approach, termed the “Q-polygon” method, efficiently obtains the analytical minimum distance between two convex objects. The paper describes the development of the Q-polygon strategy and considers its performance in representative DTC calculations. The performance of the Q-polygon approach compares very favorably to a typical quadratic programming technique for basic DTC calculations and shows an impressive low sensitivity to increasing complexity of the considered objects.