scholarly journals Controllers to Chase a High-Speed Evader Using a Pursuer with Variable Speed

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonghoek Kim

This paper proposes a chasing controller to enable a pursuer to chase a high-speed evader such that the relative distance between the evader and the pursuer monotonically decreases as time passes. Our controller is designed to assure that the angular rate of Line-of-Sight joining the pair (the pursuer and the evader) is exactly zero at all time indexes. Assuming that the pursuee can readily observe optical flow, but only poorly detect looming, this pursuer’s movement is hardly detected by the pursuee. Consider the terminal phase when the pursuer is sufficiently close to the evader. As we slow down the relative speed of the pursuer with respect to the evader, we can reduce the probability of missing the high-speed evader. Thus, our strategy is to make the pursuer decrease its speed in the terminal phase, while ensuring that the distance between the evader and the pursuer monotonically decreases as time passes. The performance of our controller is verified utilizing MATLAB simulations.

2021 ◽  
pp. jeb.238493
Author(s):  
Caroline H. Brighton ◽  
Katherine E. Chapman ◽  
Nicholas C. Fox ◽  
Graham K. Taylor

The aerial hunting behaviours of birds are strongly influenced by flight morphology and ecology, but little is known of how this relates to the behavioural algorithms guiding flight. Here we use GPS loggers to record the attack trajectories of captive-bred Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) during their maiden flights against robotic aerial targets, which we compare to existing flight data from Peregrines (Falco peregrinus). The attack trajectories of both species are well modelled by a proportional navigation (PN) guidance law, which commands turning in proportion to the angular rate of the line-of-sight to target, at a guidance gain. However, naïve Gyrfalcons operate at significantly lower values of N than Peregrines, producing slower turning and a longer path to intercept. Gyrfalcons are less manoeuvrable than Peregrines, but physical constraint is insufficient to explain the lower values of N we found, which may reflect either the inexperience of the individual birds or ecological adaptation at the species level. For example, low values of N promote the tail-chasing behaviour that is typical of wild Gyrfalcons and which apparently serves to tire their prey in a prolonged high-speed pursuit. Likewise, during close pursuit of typical fast evasive prey, PN will be less prone to being thrown off by erratic target manoeuvres at low guidance gain. The fact that low-gain PN successfully models the maiden attack flights of Gyrfalcons suggests that this behavioural algorithm is embedded in a guidance pathway ancestral to the clade containing Gyrfalcons and Peregrines, though perhaps with much deeper evolutionary origins.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline H. Brighton ◽  
Katherine E. Chapman ◽  
Nicholas C. Fox ◽  
Graham K. Taylor

ABSTRACTThe aerial hunting behaviours of birds are strongly influenced by their flight morphology and ecology, but little is known of how this variation relates to the behavioural algorithms guiding flight. Here we use onboard GPS loggers to record the attack trajectories of captive-bred Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) during their maiden flights against robotic aerial targets, which we compare to existing flight data from Peregrines (Falco peregrinus) The attack trajectories of both species are modelled most economically by a proportional navigation guidance law, which commands turning in proportion to the angular rate of the line-of-sight to target, at a guidance gain N. However, Gyrfalcons operate at significantly lower values of N than Peregrines, producing slower turning and a longer path to intercept. Gyrfalcons are less agile and less manoeuvrable than Peregrines, but this physical constraint is insufficient to explain their lower guidance gain. On the other hand, lower values of N promote the tail-chasing behaviour that is typical of wild Gyrfalcons, and which apparently serves to tire their prey in a prolonged high-speed pursuit. Moreover, during close pursuit of fast evasive prey such as Ptarmigan (Lagopus spp.), proportional navigation will be less prone to being thrown off by erratic target manoeuvres if N is low. The fact that low-gain proportional navigation successfully models the maiden attack flights of Gyrfalcons suggests that this behavioural algorithm is embedded in a hardwired guidance loop, which we hypothesise is ancestral to the clade containing Gyrfalcons and Peregrines.SUMMARY STATEMENTNaïve Gyrfalcons attacking aerial targets are modelled by the same proportional navigation guidance law as Peregrines, but with a lower navigation constant that promotes tail-chasing rather than efficient interception.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Maddox ◽  
Greg Fitch ◽  
Aaron Kiefer ◽  
Rudolf Mortimer ◽  
Jeffrey Muttart

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Demeulenaere ◽  
J. De Schutter

Traditionally, cam-follower systems are designed by assuming a constant camshaft speed. Nevertheless, all cam-follower systems, especially high-speed systems, exhibit some camshaft speed fluctuation (despite the presence of a flywheel) which causes the follower motions to be inaccurate. This paper therefore proposes a novel design procedure that explicitly takes into account the camshaft speed variation. The design procedure assumes that (i) the cam-follower system is conservative and (ii) all forces are inertial. The design procedure is based on a single design choice, i.e., the amount of camshaft speed variation, and yields (i) cams that compensate for the inertial dynamics for any period of motion and (ii) a camshaft flywheel whose (small) inertia is independent of the period of motion. A design example shows that the cams designed in this way offer the following advantages, even for non-conservative, non-purely inertial cam-follower systems: (i) more accurate camshaft motion despite a smaller flywheel, (ii) lower motor torques, (iii) more accurate follower motions, with fewer undesired harmonics, and (iv) a camshaft motion spectrum that is easily and robustly predictable.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 243-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Ji-wang ◽  
Zhang Lai-bin ◽  
Ding Ke-Qin ◽  
Duan Li-xiang

Abstract High-speed blades form core mechanical components in turbomachines. Research concerning online monitoring of operating states of such blades has drawn increased attention in recent years. To this end, various methods have been devised, of which, the blade tip-timing (BTT) technique is considered the most promising. However, the traditional BTT method is only suitable for constant-speed operations. But in practice, the rotational speed of turbomachine blades is constantly changing under the influence of external factors, which lead to unacceptable errors in measurement. To tackle this problem, a new BTT method based on multi-phases is proposed. A plurality of phases was arranged as evenly as possible on the rotating shaft to determine the rotation speed. Meanwhile, the corresponding virtual reference point was determined in accordance with the number of blades between consecutive phases. Based on these reference points, equations to measure displacement due to blade vibrations were deduced. Finally, mathematical modeling, numerical simulation and experimental tests were performed to verify the validity of the proposed method. Results demonstrate that the error in measurement induced when using the proposed method is less than 1.8 %, which is much lower compared to traditional methods utilized under variable-speed operation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsuyoshi Miyazaki ◽  
Toyoshiro Nakashima ◽  
Naohiro Ishii

The authors describe an improved method for detecting distinctive mouth shapes in Japanese utterance image sequences. Their previous method uses template matching. Two types of mouth shapes are formed when a Japanese phone is pronounced: one at the beginning of the utterance (the beginning mouth shape, BeMS) and the other at the end (the ending mouth shape, EMS). The authors’ previous method could detect mouth shapes, but it misdetected some shapes because the time period in which the BeMS was formed was short. Therefore, they predicted that a high-speed camera would be able to capture the BeMS with higher accuracy. Experiments showed that the BeMS could be captured; however, the authors faced another problem. Deformed mouth shapes that appeared in the transition from one shape to another were detected as the BeMS. This study describes the use of optical flow to prevent the detection of such mouth shapes. The time period in which the mouth shape is deformed is detected using optical flow, and the mouth shape during this time is ignored. The authors propose an improved method of detecting the BeMS and EMS in Japanese utterance image sequences by using template matching and optical flow.


Author(s):  
Robert M. Nicholson

The purpose of this research was to investigate the practicality of a helmet-mounted sight as an operational element in a quick-reaction bore-sighting system. A three-phase experimental program was conducted to determine the human capabilities with the helmet-mounted sight. In a laboratory environment sighting accuracies were obtained on both static and moving targets. Field test data were obtained during high-speed, low-altitude flights. The series of tests indicated that the accuracy of the sighting process can be expected to vary between a fraction of a degree and four degrees depending on target angular rate and the target sighting angle.


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