| Motion planning and control for autonomous vehicles are complex tasks that must be done in order for a ground robot to operate in a cluttered environment. This dissertation presents the theory, implementation, and test results for some new and novel Receding Horizon Control (RHC) techniques that allow these tasks to be unified into one.; The first new method is called Heuristic Receding Horizon Control (HRHC), and uses a modified A* search to fulfill the online optimization required by RHC. The second is called Dual-Frequency Receding Horizon Control (DFRHC), and is used to simplify the trajectory planning process during the RHC optimization.; Both methods are combined together to form a practical implementation, which is discussed in detail. The autonomous ground vehicle, the NaviGator, developed at the Center for Intelligent Machines and Robotics, serves as a platform for the implementation and testing discussed.; Finally, data and their analysis are presented. The results obtained help to support the theoretical and practical claims made by this dissertation. |
