Prescribed-time control barrier functions for semiautonomous navigation
C. Jimenez Cortes, S. Coogan
AIAA AVIATION Forum, 2024
Abstract
This paper proposes a novel use of Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) to enforce Prescribed- Time Safety in a semiautonomous navigation scenario in which an aerial vehicle navigates through a sequence of waypoints. In particular, we use Prescribed-Time Control Barrier Functions (PT-CBFs) to ensure a minimum traversal time between when the vehicle approaches the vicinity of a waypoint and passes through the waypoint itself. Motivating applications are those in which onboard personnel are required to, e.g., provide visual confirmation of the waypoint availability. PT-CBFs are guaranteed to achieve the prescribed minimum waypoint traversal time, and, as demonstrated via simulation, they also allow for faster mission completion than a simple strategy that activates a traditional CBF for a specified duration.