A Range-Based Algorithm for Autonomous Navigation of an Aerial Drone to Approach and Follow a Herd of Cattle

This paper proposes an algorithm that will allow an autonomous aerial drone to approach and follow a steady or moving herd of cattle using only range measurements. The algorithm is also insensitive to the complexity of the herd’s movement and the measurement noise. Once arrived at the herd of cattle...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 21; no. 21; p. 7218
Main Authors Gnanasekera, Manaram, Katupitiya, Jay, Savkin, Andrey V., De Silva, A.H.T. Eranga
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 29.10.2021
MDPI
Subjects
aerial drones
animal farming
Animals
autonomous navigation
Cattle
Computer simulation
Control algorithms
Drones
Farming
herding
Methods
Sensors
UAVs
Unmanned aerial vehicles
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ISSN1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI10.3390/s21217218

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Summary:This paper proposes an algorithm that will allow an autonomous aerial drone to approach and follow a steady or moving herd of cattle using only range measurements. The algorithm is also insensitive to the complexity of the herd’s movement and the measurement noise. Once arrived at the herd of cattle, the aerial drone can follow it to a desired destination. The primary motivation for the development of this algorithm is to use simple, inexpensive and robust sensing hence range sensors. The algorithm does not depend on the accuracy of the range measurements, rather the rate of change of range measurements. The proposed method is based on sliding mode control which provides robustness. A mathematical analysis, simulations and experimental results with a real aerial drone are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
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ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s21217218