Title: Velocity occupancy space for differential drive vehicles

Authors: Rachael Bis; Huei Peng; A. Galip Ulsoy

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Abstract: Velocity occupancy space (VOS) was developed to allow a vehicle to avoid moving and stationary obstacles and navigate efficiently to a goal using only uncertain sensor data. However, the VOS concept was designed for a holonomic vehicle capable of instantaneous velocity changes, capabilities that are not possessed by real vehicles. Therefore, this paper presents two methods by which velocity occupancy space can be adapted to work within the kinodynamic constraints of a differential drive vehicle with bounded acceleration capabilities. These two methods are suitable under different environmental and vehicle conditions so they are combined in order to allow the best method to be selected for every time step. Numerous simulation trials have been used to demonstrate the relative strengths and weakness of the two base methods and the resulting combined method.

Keywords: velocity occupancy space; differential drive; autonomous navigation; obstacle avoidance; acceleration control; uncertain sensor data; uncertainty; kinodynamic constraints; simulation; vehicle autonomous systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVAS.2014.057875

International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, 2014 Vol.12 No.1, pp.65 - 92

Received: 14 Sep 2012
Accepted: 15 Mar 2013
Published online: 27 Oct 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article