Ashwini Ratnoo

Gautam Kumar, Amit Shivam, Ashwini Ratnoo

This paper presents a decentralized, collision-free framework for path following guidance of multiple uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), while maintaining uniform spacing along a reference path. A vector field-based guidance law is employed to drive each UAV toward the reference path. A rotational repulsion mechanism, utilizing relative distance and bearing between UAVs, is proposed to avoid collisions during convergence to the path, and an inter-UAV spacing error-based velocity control law is presented to achieve uniform separation along the path. Analytical guarantees are established for collision avoidance and convergence of the inter-UAV spacing errors to zero, ensuring uniform separation along the path. Numerical simulations demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.

Ishmaal Erekson, Rajnikant Sharma, Ashwini Ratnoo et al.

In this paper, we formulate a virtual target-based path following guidance law aimed towards multi-vehicle path following problem. The guidance law is well suited to precisely follow circular paths while minting desired distance between two adjacent vehicles where path information is only available to the lead vehicle. We analytically show lateral and longitudnal stability and convergence on the path. This is also validated through simulation and experimental results.

Pradeep J, Siddhardha Kedarisetty, Ashwini Ratnoo

This paper addresses the problem of traffic congestion management in fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) corridors by further developing a recently introduced loiter-lane framework. A semi-cooperative guidance strategy is developed for inserting fixed-wing UAVs into a loiter lane with minimal disruption to the UAVs already operating within it, while enabling a more compact fixed-wing UAV corridor. Building on the concepts of cooperative and non-disruptive loiter-lane insertion, the proposed strategy makes the incoming UAV first attempt, within its speed bounds, to rendezvous with an existing empty loiter slot. If direct insertion is infeasible, a minimal number of loitering UAVs perform coordinated slot hopping to create a suitably positioned empty slot. The feasibility and performance of the method are demonstrated through numerical simulations.

Pradeep J, Kedarisetty Siddhardha, Ashwini Ratnoo

This paper considers fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) corridors comprising a main lane, a circular loiter lane for managing traffic congestion, and transit lanes connecting the two. In particular, we address the problem of conflict-free reinsertion of UAVs from the loiter lane back into the main lane. The loiter lane contains a fixed number of equidistant virtual slots that UAVs can occupy. Reinsertion of loiter UAVs into the main lane becomes essential either due to reduced traffic in the main lane or due to a loiter UAV needing to reach its destination urgently. Given the total number of loiter slots, UAV speed limits, and the minimum safety distance, a guidance algorithm is developed to compute the required speed of a loiter UAV in the transit lane to ensure safe reinsertion. The proposed guidance and automation strategies are validated through numerical simulations.

Lima Agnel Tony, Ashwini Ratnoo, Debasish Ghose

In this article, a novel drone skyway framework called CORRIDRONE is proposed. As the name suggests, this represents virtual air corridors for point-to-point safe passage of multiple drones. The corridors are not permanent but can be set up on demand. A few such scenarios could be those in warehouse/factory floors, package delivery, shore-to-ship delivery, border patrol, etc. Several factors play major roles in the planning and design of such aerial passages. The proposed framework includes many novel features which aid safe and efficient integration of UAVs into the airspace with already available technologies. A several kilometres long test bed is proposed to be set-up at the 1500 acres Challekere campus of Indian Institute of Science, in the state of Karnataka, to design and test the infrastructure required for CORRIDRONE.