Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Filters

20061

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.autonomous hovercraft

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Feedback Control of a Hovercraft over a Wireless Link
    (2006-06-01) Kulis, Zachary Reid; Krishnaprasad, Perinkulam S; Justh, Eric W; Electrical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Nonlinear underactuated systems (i.e. systems with fewer control inputs than configuration variables) present significant challenges for automatic control. This thesis explores feedback control of an underactuated hovercraft over a wireless communication channel using techniques from nonlinear control theory. A family of control laws stabilizing the hovercraft <em>reduced dynamics</em> - including zero velocity, constant forward/reverse velocity, and constant angular velocity stabilization - are derived. Lyapunov arguments are used to prove convergence of the reduced dynamics under the control laws. It is shown that heading cannot be stabilized by a continuously differentiable state feedback law. In response, two hybrid control algorithms for heading stabilization are proposed. The control laws are demonstrated on a real R/C hovercraft using a distributed autopilot and a Bluetooth network. A two-dimensional aided INS is developed using a MEMs IMU and the "Cricket" RF/ultrasonic ranging system. Experimental and simulated results from a high-fidelity model are shown to agree nicely.