Robust Source-Seeking Hybrid Controllers for Autonomous Vehicles

Abstract
We consider the problem of steering an autonomous vehicle to locate a radiation source utilizing measurements of the radiation intensity only. We propose a control algorithm that locates the source through a sequence of line minimizations of the radiation intensity. We implement in a hybrid controller, with sample-and-hold and logic variables, a discretized version of the algorithm suitable for steering a point-mass vehicle. The algorithm confers global convergence and practical stability properties to the closed-loop hybrid system. We discuss these properties and characterize the region of convergence for the vehicle. Convergence and stability results are supplemented with simulations.

This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit: