Target Approaching Control Under a GPS-Denied Environment with Range-Only Measurements

In this paper, we investigate the target-approaching control problem for a discrete-time first-order vehicle system where the target area is modeled as a static circular region. In the absence of absolute bearing or position information, we propose a simple local controller that relies solely on ran...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bin Chen, Zhenghao Jing, Yinke Dou, Yan Chen, Liwei Kou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Sensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/14/4497
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Summary:In this paper, we investigate the target-approaching control problem for a discrete-time first-order vehicle system where the target area is modeled as a static circular region. In the absence of absolute bearing or position information, we propose a simple local controller that relies solely on range measurements to the target obtained at two consecutive sampling instants. Specifically, if the measured distance decreases between two successive samples, the vehicle maintains a constant velocity; otherwise, it rotates its velocity vector by an angle of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mi>π</mi><mo>/</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> in the clockwise direction. This control strategy guarantees convergence to the target region, ensuring that the vehicle’s velocity direction remains unchanged in the best-case scenario and is adjusted at most three times in the worst case. The effectiveness of the proposed method is theoretically established and further validated through outdoor experiments with a mobile vehicle.
ISSN:1424-8220