Multicopter Interception Control Based on Visual Servo and Virtual Tube in a Cluttered Environment

This paper presents a method of multicopter interception control based on visual servo and virtual tube in a cluttered environment. The proposed hybrid heuristic function improves the efficiency of the A<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∗</sup> algorithm. The revised objective function makes the virtual tube generating curve not only smooth but also close to the path points generated by the A<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∗</sup> algorithm. In six different simulation scenarios, the efficiency of the modified A<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∗</sup> algorithm is 6.2% higher than that of the traditional A<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">∗</sup> algorithm. The efficiency of path planning and virtual tube planning is verified by simulations. The effectiveness of interception control is verified by a software-in-loop (SIL) simulation.