Related papers: A Minimum-propellant Pontryagin-based Nonlinear MP…
Designing spacecraft trajectories remains challenging in the presence of stochastic effects such as maneuver execution errors and observation uncertainties. Although covariance control and belief-space planning provide useful tools for…
This study presents autonomous guidance and control strategies for the purpose of reconfiguring close-range multi-satellite formations. The formation under consideration includes $N$ under-actuated deputy satellites and an uncontrolled…
This paper addresses the problem of cooperative transportation of an object rigidly grasped by $N$ robotic agents. In particular, we propose a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) scheme that guarantees the navigation of the object to…
Handling uncertainty in model predictive control comes with various challenges, especially when considering state constraints under uncertainty. Most methods focus on either the conservative approach of robustly accounting for uncertainty…
This paper presents a time-constrained model predictive control strategy for the six degree-of-freedom autonomous rendezvous, proximity, operations and docking problem between a controllable "deputy" satellite and an uncontrolled "chief"…
This paper presents a Model Predictive Control (MPC) scheme for flight scheduling and energy management of electric aviation networks, where electric aircraft transport passengers between electrified airports equipped with sustainable…
This work presents a closed-loop guidance algorithm for six-degrees of freedom spacecraft rendezvous with a passive target flying in an eccentric orbit. The main assumption is that the chaser vehicle has an attitude control system, based on…
By optimizing the predicted performance over a receding horizon, model predictive control (MPC) provides the ability to enforce state and control constraints. The present paper considers an extension of MPC for nonlinear systems that can be…
Minimum circle circumnavigation is proposed in this paper, which is of special value in target monitoring, capturing and/or attacking. In this paper, a safe minimum circle circumnavigation of multiple targets based on bearing measurements…
The optimal cooperative guidance in the nonlinear setting for intercepting a target by multiple pursuers is studied in the paper. As certain relative angles can improve observability, the guidance command is required to cooperatively…
This paper presents a novel robust predictive controller for constrained nonlinear systems that is able to track piece-wise constant setpoint signals. The tracking model predictive controller presented in this paper extends the nonlinear…
This paper proposes a solution for multiple-impulse orbital maneuvers near circular orbits for special cases where orbital observations are not globally available and the spacecraft is being observed through a limited window from a ground…
[Accepted to IROS 2025] In this paper, we address the problem of tracking high-speed agile trajectories for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs), where model inaccuracies can lead to large tracking errors. Existing Nonlinear Model Predictive…
Robust Model Predictive Control (MPC) for nonlinear systems is a problem that poses significant challenges as highlighted by the diversity of approaches proposed in the last decades. Often compromises with respect to computational load,…
This Technical Note presents a simple control approach for global trajectory tracking and formation control of underactuated surface vessels equipped with only two propellers. The control approach exploits the inherent cascaded structure of…
In this paper, the repeat-groundtrack orbit maintenance problem is addressed for spacecraft driven by electric propulsion. An adaptive solution is proposed, which combines an hysteresis controller and a recursive least squares filter. The…
In this work, we propose a centralized control method based on nonlinear model predictive control to let multiple UAVs manipulate the full pose of an object via cables. At the best of the authors knowledge this is the first method that…
The optimization of fuel-optimal low-thrust collision avoidance maneuvers (CAMs) in scenarios involving multiple encounters between spacecraft is addressed. The optimization's objective is the minimization of the total fuel consumption…
We introduce a new algorithm to solve constrained nonlinear optimal control problem, with an emphasis on low-thrust trajectory in highly nonlinear dynamics. The algorithm, dubbed Pontryagin-Bellman Differential Dynamic Programming (PDDP),…
This paper presents a data-driven optimal control policy for a micro flapping wing unmanned aerial vehicle. First, a set of optimal trajectories are computed off-line based on a geometric formulation of dynamics that captures the nonlinear…