Much effort has been invested during the past decades in design of parafoils for a wide range of payloads and in development of means for their guidance. Existing parafoils are capable of autonomous navigation using the global positioning system and other onboard sensors. The purpose of this study is to explore the advantages of coordination among multiple autonomous parafoils. Each parafoil is able to navigate to the target on its own by following a real-time-generated reference trajectory. A new method for trajectory generation is presented and behaviour-based rules are developed that control the relative motion of the descending parafoils. The set of simple rules results in an emergent behaviour known as flocking. The coupling between trajectory following and flocking is studied in a multiagent simulation. The simulation uses a realistic six-degrees-of-freedom model of a heavy cargo parafoil. The obtained results demonstrate the possibility of flocking behaviour for guided parafoils. The flocking rules ensure safe separation between the vehicles headed for the same target and allow the parafoils to follow a reference trajectory as a group.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Coupling in-flight trajectory planning and flocking for multiple autonomous parafoils


    Contributors:
    Rosich, A (author) / Gurfil, P (author)


    Publication date :

    2012-06-01


    Size :

    30 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    Unknown







    Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Parafoils in Complex Terrain

    Le Floch, Brian / How, Jonathan / Breger, Louis et al. | AIAA | 2017


    Robust Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Parafoils under Wind Uncertainty

    Luders, Brandon D. / Sugel, Ian / How, Jonathan P. | AIAA | 2013