Ce travail porte sur la conception d’un système capable d’effectuer des manœuvres de parking automatique plus polyvalent que ceux actuellement commercialisés, tout en conservant une définition technique des capteurs extéroceptifs limités en prix et en gabarit. Un cas d’usage typique est de permettre au véhicule de se rendre automatiquement dans la zone de garage du domicile de son propriétaire, cette fonction est classiquement appelée voiturier autonome à domicile. Partant de l’existant et connaissant les performances attendues, une architecture système et une architecture fonctionnelle ont été tracées. Cela a permis de constituer un ensemble de fonctions interconnectées qui ont participé dans la création d’une architecture software modulaire ainsi que dans la création des interfaces de connexion au véhicule prototype. Dans un premier temps, nous explorons la problématique de la détection d’obstacles. Partant d’un système propriétaire fermé de capteurs ultrason, nous avons réussi à réaliser une carte d’obstacle à un niveau de précision supérieur au produit d’origine. Une augmentation de la limite de détection des capteurs ultrason a été réalisée utilisant une technique Structure from Motion. Ces informations d’occupation ont été exploitées par la suite pour traiter la problématique de détection du couloir de navigation. Dans un second temps, la fonction de localisation du véhicule est abordée. Trois techniques de localisation collaborent pour une robustesse de fonctionnement continu : la localisation odométrique, la localisation par appariement des grilles d’occupation et la localisation par appariement entre une image actuelle et une base d’images adaptée à notre besoin et améliorée en termes de temps de calcul. Enfin, nous nous sommes intéressés à la problématique de navigation du véhicule. Nous avons considéré résolue la problématique de contrôle des actionneurs pour le suivi d’une trajectoire donnée et nous nous sommes concentrés sur la création d’une trajectoire admissible. Nous avons développé une technique de planification locale pour l’évitement d’un d’obstacles non cartographiés. Pour la construction de trajectoire nous avons utilisé des courbes à géométrie connue et avons montré qu’en utilisant trois clothoïdes et éventuellement deux arcs de cercle (si le braquage maximal est atteint) il est possible de créer des trajectoires à courbure continue adaptées à notre situation. Nous avons montré que l’utilisation d’une carte d’obstacles nous permet de prédire plus en avance de la possibilité d’emprunter un certain couloir de navigation. Chacune des parties de ce travail a fait l’objet de validations en simulation mais aussi sur des données réelles démontrant la pertinence des approches proposées quant à l’application visée. / This work covers the conception of a system capable to do automatic parking maneuvers more versatile than those already commercialized, respecting the technical definition of exteroceptive sensors limited by costs and weight. A typical use case is to set a vehicle to park autonomously in the parking lot of a home, function generally called autonomous home valet parking. Taking from the existing and knowing the expected performances, a system architecture and a functional architecture were drawn. This allowed to compose an assembly of interconnected functions that participated in the creation of modular software architecture, as well as in the creation of connection interfaces with the prototype vehicle. First, we explored the obstacle detection problem. Having a closed property system with ultrasonic sensors, we managed to build an obstacle map with a higher precision level than the build-in product. An increasing limit detection of the ultrasonic sensors was developed using the Structure from Motion technique. This obstacle occupancy information was exploited afterwards in order to solve the detection problem of the navigation corridors. Second, the vehicle localization is addressed. Three localization techniques work for a continuous functioning robustness: the localization by odometry, the localization by occupancy grid map matching and the localization by comparing the current image with the images stored in a database adapted to our needs and improved by computing means. Last, we interested in the vehicle navigation problem. We considered solved the actuator control problem for the tracking of a given trajectory and we concentrated on an admissible trajectory planning. We developed a local path planning technique for avoiding the unmapped obstacles. In order to build the trajectory we used curves of known geometry and we proved that by using clothoides and eventually two circle arches (if maximum steering angle achieved) it is therefore be possible to create trajectories with continuous curves adapted to our situation. We confirmed that using an obstacle map will allow us to predict forehead the possibility to take a specific navigation corridor. Each part of this work was validated in simulation as well as on real data, proving the pertinence of the proposed approaches for the intended application.

Cars are becoming increasingly automated and expected to become fully autonomous in the near future. How will this a ect the car and its position of a symbol of freedom? This thesis investigates how an autonomous vehicle can evolve this symbolic value and be adapted to the use case of an explorative road trip. Based on learnings from travellers and experts the starting point has been the positive experience of a road trip in a conventional vehicle. The target has been to enhance the current experience and create an even more spontaneous and explorative atmosphere with the help of a future scenario and emerging technology. This project gives an example of an interface that supports and en- courages spontaneity which lets the travellers direct and control the vehicle intuitively in order to explore and enjoy what they nd during their journey. Furthermore it extends the travel experience beyond what a road trip has been by connecting travellers to locals.

The global population is growing, and more people than before are moving to cities. This creates a need for increased building efficiency and possibility to work in remote environments. On today’s construction sites, there is a need to able to organize the site in a better way. In the future, autonomous vehicles will instead find it difficult to localize materials on a construction site. The autonomous vehicles can localize themselves with cameras and sensors, but they do not know how to localize the materials and items. This report is based on a project where Volvo Construction Equipment acted as a customer and the project was performed by students from Blekinge Institute of Technology and Stanford University. The prompt for this project was “From elephants to ants – from Earth to Mars” and would later be interpreted as finding a solution for the future that will be able to function without human’s intervention. From this project, this report was created. The following research questions for this report were: • How can workers locate building materials on today’s construction sites? • How will autonomous vehicles be able to locate material without human assistance in future construction sites? To solve these problems a design-process started, using an engineering design method. This method was chosen because of the type of problem. In engineering, the problem is identified to create a solution to the problem, comparing to when studying science, a question should be answered. The outcome from this report is a Product Service System (PSS) for a tracking system and a device for materials on today’s and future construction sites. When this solution was created no economic aspects were considered. Also, the focus of this report is the first steps of going from today’s construction sites to the future construction sites where autonomous vehicles will be used. The result from this research shows that the same problem of organizing a construction site is a pattern that can be seen in the majority of the sites that were visited during field works. Also, the workers today have little trust in the autonomous vehicles which is a result of lacking information and communication within companies. Furthermore, to be able to move to an autonomous future the mindset and attitude has to be changed. The collected data was analysed, and the outcome was a tracing system that will enable, both humans and machines, to localize materials on today’s and future construction sites. With this solution, today’s workers can track their materials wherever it is placed, without any need of changing the site. The autonomous vehicles will be able to use the tags to localize materials when there are no humans around. / Den globala befolkningen växer och fler flyttar till städerna än tidigare. Detta skapar ett behov av ökad effektivitet i byggbranschen och möjlighet till arbete i avlägsna miljöer. På dagens byggarbetsplatser är det nödvändigt att kunna organisera platsen på ett bättre sätt. I framtiden kommer de autonoma fordonen få det svårare att lokalisera material på en byggarbetsplats. De autonoma fordonen kan lokalisera sig med kameror och sensorer, men de vet inte hur man lokaliserar material och föremål. Rapporten bygger på ett projekt där kunden var Volvo Construction Equipment och projektet utfördes av studenter från Blekinge Tekniska Högskola och Stanford University. Prompten för projektet löd "Från elefanter till myror - från jorden till mars" och som senare tolkades till att finna en lösning för framtiden som kommer att kunna fungera utan mänsklig påverkan. Från detta projekt skapades denna rapport. Följande forskningsfrågor skulle besvaras: • Hur kan arbetare lokalisera byggmaterial på dagens byggarbetsplatser? • Hur kommer autonoma fordon kunna lokalisera material utan mänsklig hjälp på de framtida byggarbetsplatserna? För att lösa dessa problem startades en designprocess, med vald ingenjörsmetod. Denna metod valdes på grund av typen av problem. I ingenjörsmetoden identifieras problemet för att skapa en lösning till problemet, jämfört men en vetenskaplig metod, där en fråga besvaras. Resultatet från denna rapport är ett produkttjänstesystem (PSS) för ett spårningssystem för att kunna spåra material på dagens och framtida byggarbetsplatser. När denna lösning skapades togs det ingen hänsyn till de ekonomiska aspekterna. Fokus på denna rapport är de första stegen för att gå från dagens byggarbetsplatser mot de framtida byggplatserna där autonomiska fordon kommer att användas. Resultatet av forskningen visade att det finns ett stort behov av att organisera de olika byggarbetsplatserna som besöktes under studiebesöken. Arbetarna har idag ett litet förtroende för de autonoma fordonen som är ett resultat av bristande information och kommunikation inom företagen. För att kunna gå till en autonom framtid måste tankesätt och attityd ändras. Den samlade data analyserades och resultatet var ett spårningssystem som gör det möjligt för både människor och maskiner att lokalisera material på dagens och framtida byggarbetsplatser. Med denna lösning kan dagens arbetare enkelt spåra materialet, utan att behöva omstrukturera arbetsplatsen. De autonoma fordonen kommer kunna använda spårningssystem för att kunna lokalisera material när det inte finns några människor till hands.

<div>In this thesis, we explore different methods to enhance the safety and robustness for autonomous systems. We achieve this goal using concepts and tools from reachability analysis and control barrier functions. We first take on a multi-player reach-avoid game that involves two teams of players with competing objectives, namely the attackers and the defenders. We analyze the problem and solve the game from the attackers' perspectives via a moving horizon approach. The resulting solution provides a safety guarantee that allows attackers to reach their goals while avoiding all defenders. </div><div><br></div><div>Next, we approach the problem of target re-association after long-term occlusion using concepts from reachability as well as Bayesian inference. Here, we set out to find the probability identity matrix that associates the identities of targets before and after an occlusion. The solution of this problem can be used in conjunction with existing state-of-the-art trackers to enhance their robustness.</div><div><br></div><div>Finally, we turn our attention to a different method for providing safety guarantees, namely control barrier functions. Since the existence of a control barrier function implies the safety of a control system, we propose a framework to learn such function from a given user-specified safety requirement. The learned CBF can be applied on top of an existing nominal controller to provide safety guarantees for systems.</div>

The study aimed to identify and analyse methods for establishing external communication between humans and autonomous/teleoperated machines/vehicles using various Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs). The study was divided into three phases. The purpose of the first phase was to identify and highlight previously tested/researched methods for establishing external communication by conducting a literature review. The findings from the literature review were categorised into six points of interest: machine indications, test delivery methods, HMI technologies/types, symbols, textual/numerical messages, and colours associated with different indications. Based on these findings, four HMIs (projection, display, LED-strip, and auditory) were selected for evaluation in a virtual reality environment for the second phase of the study, which has the purpose of identifying which of the human-machine interfaces can effectively communicate the intentions of autonomous/teleoperated machines to humans. The results of phase two indicate that the participants preferred projection as the most effective individual HMI, and when given the option to combine two HMIs, projection combined with auditory was the most preferred combination. The participants were also asked to pick three HMIs of their choosing, resulting in the projection, display and audible HMI combination being the preferred option. The evaluation of HMIs in a virtual reality environment contributes to improving dependability and identifying usability issues.  The objective of the third and final phase was to gather all the findings from the previous phases and subsequently refine the report until it was considered finalised. Future work includes enhancing the realism of the VR environment, refining machine behaviour and scenarios, enabling multiple participants to simultaneously interact with the environment, and exploring alternative evaluation methods. Addressing these areas will lead to more realistic evaluations and advancements in human-machine interaction research.

The ability to gather and process information regarding the condition of forest fires is essential to cost-effective, safe, and efficient fire fighting. Advances in sensory and autopilot technology have made miniature unmanned aerial systems (UASs) an important tool in the acquisition of information. This thesis addresses some of the challenges faced when employing UASs for forest-fire perimeter surveillance; namely, perimeter tracking, cooperative perimeter surveillance, and path planning. Solutions to the first two issues are presented and a method for understanding path planning within the context of a forest-fire environment is demonstrated. Both simulation and hardware results are provided for each solution.

[pt] Nesse trabalho, nós apresentamos novas aplicações para alguns controladores robustos, tais como as abordagens SMC e STA. O principal objetivo é conseguir executar uma navegação autônoma precisa em campos agrícolas, usando robôs móveis com rodas, equipados com uma câmera monocular fixa. Primeiro, nós projetamos uma abordagem de controle robusto baseado em servo-visão, a fim de lidar com imprecisões do modelo e perturbações da trajetória no espaço da imagem. Além disso, uma abordagem de controle robusto baseada em cascata, é aplicada, na qual, a malha de realimentação externo está conectada com uma malha de realimentação interna para lidar com os efeitos de todas as fontes de perturbação. Desse modo, uma abordagem robusta de rastreamento de trajetória, baseada em super-twisting, é aplicada para estabilização de movimento afim de garantir o sucesso da tarefa de seguir uma linha de cultivo considerando os efeitos de derrapagem das rodas e derrapagem lateral do veículo. A plataforma ROS-Gazebo, um simulador de robótica de código aberto, foi utilizada para realização de simulações computacionais 3D usando um robô móvel do tipo differentialdrive e um ambiente ad-hoc projetado para cultivo em linha. A eficácia e a viabilidade dos controladores robustos são avaliadas analisando simulações numéricas e métricas de desempenho, tais como: (i) o Erro Quadrático Médio (EQM) e (ii) o Desvio Absoluto Médio (DAM). Além disso, nós veremos nos resultados, que em geral, só é possível ter estabilidade, utilizando os controladores rosbustos. / [en] In this work, we present a new application for some robust controllers, such as SMC and STA approaches. The main idea is to perform autonomous navigation in agricultural fields accurately using wheeled mobile robots, equipped with a fixed monocular camera . Here, we consider the existence of uncertainties in the parameters of the robot-camera system and external disturbances caused by high driving velocities, sparse plants, and uneven terrains. First, we design a robust image-based visual servoing approach to deal with model inaccuracies and trajectory perturbations in the image space. In addition, a cascade-based robust control approach is applied, in which the outer vision feedback loop is connected with an inner pose feedback loop to deal with the effects of all disturbances sources. Then, a robust trajectory tracking approach based on the super-twisting algorithm is applied for motion stabilization to ensure the successful execution of row crop following tasks under wheel slippage and vehicle sideslip. ROSGazebo platform, an open-source robotics simulator, was used to perform 3D computer simulation using a differential-drive mobile robot and an adhoc designed row-crop environment. The effectiveness and feasibility of the robust controllers are evaluated by analyzing numerical simulations and performance metrics, such as: (i) the root-mean square error (RMSE) and (ii) the mean-absolute deviation (MAD). Furthermore, we will see in results, that in general, it is only possible to have stability, using robust controllers.

No description available.

With the development of autonomous vehicles, more and more technology is introduced into the automotive industry. Ethernet has found its way into the vehicle network, and it is forced to coexist with the well-established CAN bus. In terms of data acquisition, the presence of a mixed network brings challenges with significant changes in network architecture. This thesis explores CAN-Ethernet gateways as a replacement for the PCIe bus CAN transceivers utilized in today's logging systems, with the purpose to improve the adaptability of the autonomous logging system. A CAN-Ethernet gateway was implemented using Kvaser's DIN Rail SE400S-X10in an experimental comparison against the PCIe logging solution, including both classical CAN and CAN FD communication. In addition, a case study on the benefits and drawbacks with implementing an Ethernet architecture was performed, utilizing semi-structured interviews. It was concluded that a CAN-Ethernet gateway provides a robust solution in relation to data loss. Throughout the tests, the message loss rate was 0% for both logging solutions. However, CAN-Ethernetlogging introduced additional delay into the system. For the tests on a truck simulation rig the mean additional delay from a CAN-Ethernet gateway, compared to the existing PCIe-CAN logging, was 2 ms. Moreover, some spikes occurred and in a number of cases it could be up to 6 ms in additional delay compared to the existing PCIe logging. It was also proven difficult to time synchronize the gateway with the autonomous logging system, and unknown delays had an impact. Relevant metrics were obtained from relative measurements of side-by-side logging between the PCIe and CAN-Ethernet communication. The standard deviation and fluctuation of the delay were relevant metrics, since smaller fluctuations made the delay more predictable and real-time compatible. A CAN-Ethernet deployment may create a more complex architecture in general, and as of now has limitations for real-time systems. On the other hand, it may offer significant possibilities in future development of a more adaptable and scalable logging system. / Med utvecklingen av autonoma fordon har mer och mer teknologi introducerats inom fordonsindustrin. Ethernet har funnit sin väg in i fordonsnätverket och tvingas existera sida vid sida med den väletablerade CAN-bussen. För dataloggning orsakar närvaron av ett blandat nätverk (med både CAN och Ethernet) utmaningar i samband med stora förändringar inom nätverksarkitektur. Det här examensarbetet utforskar nätslussar för CAN-Ethernet som en ersättare till PCIe-bussens CAN-sändtagare som används i dagens loggningssystem. En CAN-Ethernet-nätsluss implementerades genom att använda Kvasers DIN Rail SE400S-X10 i en experimentell jämförelse med PCIe-loggningssystemet, och inkluderade både klassisk CAN samt CAN FD kommunikation. I tillägg gjordes en fallstudie om fördelar och nackdelar med att implementera en Ethernet-arkitektur,vilken grundades på semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Slutsatsen var att CAN-Ethernet-nätslussar tillhandahåller en robust lösning i förhållande till dataförlust. Under alla testerna var meddelandeförlusten 0% hos båda loggningsmetoderna. Däremot introducerade CAN-Ethernet-loggning en ökad fördröjning till systemet. För testerna på lastbilsriggsimulatorn var fördröjningen 2 ms jämfört med PCIe-CAN-loggningen. Dessutom förekom spikar i fördröjningen och i vissa fall resulterade fördröjningen i upp mot 6 ms, jämfört mot den befintliga PCIe-loggningen. Det visade sig även vara svårt att tidssynkronisera nätslussen med det autonoma loggningssystemet och okända fördröjningar hade en inverkan. Relevanta mått erhölls från relativa mätningar av jämsides loggning mellan PCIe och CAN-Ethernet kommunikation. Standardavvikelsen och fluktuation av fördröjningen var relevanta mått eftersom mindre fluktuationer resulterade i en mer förutsägbar samt realtidskompatibel fördröjning. Användningen av CAN-Ethernet kan, i allmänhet, resultera i en mer avancerad arkitektur och har i dagsläget begränsningar inom realtidssystem. Å andra sidan kan CAN-Ethernet erbjuda markanta möjligheter inom framtida utveckling av ett mer modulärt och skalbart loggningssystem.

This project’s goal was to assess both the challenges of implementing the Deep Q-Learning algorithm to create an autonomous car in the CARLA simulator, and the driving performance of the resulting model. An agent was trained to follow waypoints based on two main approaches. First, a camera-based approach, which allowed the agent to gather information about the environment from a camera sensor. The image along with other driving features were fed to a convolutional neural network. Second, an approach focused purely on following the waypoints without the camera sensor. The camera sensor was substituted for an array containing the agent’s angle with respect to the upcoming waypoints along with other driving features. Even though the camera-based approach was the best during evaluation, no approach was successful in consistently following the waypoints of a straight route. To increase the performance of the camera-based approach more training episodes need to be provided. Furthermore, both approaches would greatly benefit from experimentation and optimization of the model’s neural network configuration and its hyperparameters.