UC Santa Barbara

This paper presents an adaptive hybrid feedback law designed to robustly steer a group of autonomous vehicles toward the source of an unknown but measurable signal, at the same time that an obstacle is avoided and a prescribed formation is maintained. The hybrid law overcomes the limitations imposed by the topological obstructions induced by the obstacle, which precludes the robust stabilization of the source of the signal by using smooth feedback. The control strategy implements a leader-follower approach, where the followers track, in a coordinated way, the position of the leader.