Loading...
Collision avoidance and geofencing for fixed-wing aircraft with control barrier functions
Molnar, Tamas G. Kannan, Suresh K. Cunningham, James Dunlap, Kyle Hobbs, Kerianne L. Ames, Aaron D.
Molnar, Tamas G.
Kannan, Suresh K.
Cunningham, James
Dunlap, Kyle
Hobbs, Kerianne L.
Ames, Aaron D.
Files
Other Names
Location
Time Period
Advisors
Original Date
Digitization Date
Issue Date
2025-02-17
Type
Article
Genre
Keywords
Aerospace control,Aircraft navigation,Collision avoidance,Control barrier function (CBF),Geofencing
Subjects (LCSH)
Citation
T. G. Molnar, S. K. Kannan, J. Cunningham, K. Dunlap, K. L. Hobbs and A. D. Ames, "Collision Avoidance and Geofencing for Fixed-Wing Aircraft With Control Barrier Functions," in IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, doi: 10.1109/TCST.2025.3536215.
Abstract
Safety-critical failures often have fatal consequences in aerospace control. Control systems on aircraft, therefore, must ensure the strict satisfaction of safety constraints, preferably with formal guarantees of safe behavior. This article establishes the safety-critical control of fixed-wing aircraft in collision avoidance and geofencing tasks. A control framework is developed wherein a run-time assurance (RTA) system modulates the nominal flight controller of the aircraft whenever necessary to prevent it from colliding with other aircraft or crossing a boundary (geofence) in space. The RTA is formulated as a safety filter using control barrier functions (CBFs) with formal guarantees of safe behavior. CBFs are constructed and compared for a nonlinear kinematic fixed-wing aircraft model. The proposed CBF-based controllers showcase the capability of safely executing simultaneous collision avoidance and geofencing, as demonstrated by simulations on the kinematic model and a high-fidelity dynamical model. © 1993-2012 IEEE.
Table of Contents
Description
This is an open access article under the CC BY license.
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Journal
IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology
Book Title
Series
Digital Collection
Finding Aid URL
Use and Reproduction
Archival Collection
PubMed ID
ISSN
10636536