Dynamic switching controller for bidirectional trajectory tracking in PV powered mobile robots considering all their...

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Renewable Energy Systems
• Control Theory

Background:

• Wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) powered by photovoltaic (PV) panels face challenges in precise trajectory tracking, especially under variable solar irradiance.
• Existing control strategies often oversimplify the complex interactions between the WMR's dynamics, power electronics, and the PV energy source.
• Bidirectional motion control under integrated system dynamics remains an unsolved problem in the literature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a hierarchical dynamic switching controller for WMRs powered by PV panels.
• To achieve robust bidirectional trajectory tracking by integrating the WMR's dynamic model, actuators, power electronics, and PV source.
• To address the limitations of existing methods by explicitly considering the switching nature of power converters and managing bipolar motor voltages.

Main Methods:

• Development of a hierarchical dynamic switching controller.
• Integration of the WMR's dynamic model, actuators, and power electronics subsystem.
• Modeling of a commercial PV panel and its response to variable irradiance using MATLAB/Simulink and Simscape.
• Simulation-based validation under fluctuating irradiance and parametric variations.

Main Results:

• The proposed controller successfully achieves bidirectional trajectory tracking for PV-powered WMRs.
• Simulations demonstrate effective energy flow management from the PV source to the WMR.
• The controller exhibits superior performance and robustness compared to existing methods, even under abrupt environmental and system variations.

Conclusions:

• The hierarchical dynamic switching controller provides a robust and reliable solution for bidirectional trajectory tracking in PV-powered WMRs.
• The integrated framework effectively handles the complexities of PV energy supply and WMR motion control.
• This work advances the state-of-the-art in autonomous mobile robot control for renewable energy applications.