Ceruleanplains.com - Amateur Robotics Project Journal

Guidance, Navigation, and Control Subsystem

Purpose: The GNC subsystem comprises of the systems required to issue commands, algorithms, and processes in order to compute a solution for path planning in both attitude and position as well as the time sensitive products in order to achieve the desired end-state position and attitude. At times these entities are inseparable for things like path-planning or dead-reckoning.

Guidance

The guidance system is that which uses algorithms and hardware to compute a means to alter the vehicle's path to go from where it is to where it needs to be.

Maneuvers to change in speed, altitude, dynamic pressure, fuel usage, etc. to accomplish the set forth goal

Navigation

The navigation system maintains an accurate estimate of vehicle position, velocity states as well as attitude and attitude rates. This portion predicts where the unit will be and also determines where it was. It interfaces with the guidance system by providing a service of where the unit is and where it should go next by using sensor information such as accelerometers, inertial measurement units (IMUs), etc.

Integration of acceleration, position, and velocity information to estimate past, present, and future positions
Computing position via sensor information such as counting the pulses from encoders

Control

Mechanisms commanded to accomplish the desired maneuvers

Examples: ailerons, elevators, rudders, bow-planes, wheels, thrusters

Dead-reckoning path examples: From Andy Lindsay's Robotics with the Boe-bot

Updates

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Re-wrote the site. Plan to put hardware and software examples in as appropriate such as encoding, estimation of position, etc.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Site start-up!

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About the Author:

An astronautics engineer, the author is interested in studying artificial intelligence and more specifically the intelligent agents created to accomplish specific tasks. The goal of his projects are to build a robotics test bed for experimentation and discussion amongst peers.

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