Barrier Lyapunov function based guidance law design for gap traversal of aerial vehicles

This manuscript proposes a novel guidance design for the gap traversal of aerial vehicles. The guidance design is performed based on the barrier Lyapunov function using bearing information of the gap. The guidance law is meticulously crafted to operate in scenarios where determining gap edges relies on active vision methods, making it reliable in various real-world applications. What sets this guidance law apart from existing ones is its adherence to a nonlinear framework, refraining from the need to linearize the system dynamics. This remarkable feature allows the proposed guidance design to maintain its effectiveness even when the deviations in the heading and flight path angle are significant from their nominal values. The efficacy of the proposed guidance law is substantiated using a point mass vehicle and the quadrotor in the planar and three-dimensional scenarios. Extensive numerical simulations are conducted to validate the performance of the proposed design, considering wind gusts and Gaussian noise. The results obtained from these simulations demonstrate the efficacy of barrier Lyapunov function-based guidance for aerial vehicles in the context of gap traversal.