Optimal Control of the Movement of a Group of Unmanned Vehicles

The article presents an algorithm for controlling a group of land-based autonomous vehicles. Research into the field of controlling autonomous ground vehicles is actively progressing. А separate challenging scientific and technical issue is the development of algorithms to manage a group of vehicles while maintaining optimal solutions. Despite the abundance of works on using unmanned vehicles in urban settings, algorithms are also under study that operate on rough terrain while solving, for instance, cargo delivery missions in hard-to-access areas. In this paper, the issue of driving an autonomous vehicle in a deterministic setting is addressed. To resolve the two-point issue arising from the maximum principle, the algorithm developed by Krylov and Chernousko has been employed. The difficulty in applying it for real-time control has been demonstrated. An algorithm incorporating a predictive model has been used to implement the concept of " flexible trajectories". The results of the numerical simulation are presented, demonstrating the benefits of this algorithm. Group movement of unmanned ground vehicles was implemented using a "master-slave" approach, where the movement of a slave control object follows a trajectory aligned with the movement of the master. The results of the numerical modeling show the potential for using the proposed algorithm to manage a group of autonomous vehicles under various starting and ending conditions. The algorithm proved successful in the presence of a restricted area for the controlled vehicle. Possibility of simultaneous operation of multiple guided autonomous vehicles is demonstrated.