A Modular Approach to Level Curve Tracking With Two Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the problem of tracking noisy two-dimensional level curves using only the instantaneous measurements of the field, taken by two mobile agents, without the need of estimating the field gradient. To do this, we propose a dual-control-module structure consisting of the formation control and curve tracking modules. The former uses the linear velocity of the agents to generate the angular velocities, which are then used to maintain a constant distance between the two agents. The latter uses the instantaneous field measurements to generate the linear velocities of the two agents to successfully track level curves. The modular approach decouples the problems of formation control and curve tracking, thus allowing the seamless design of the two modules. We show that the proposed dual-module control structure allows fast and accurate tracking of planar level curves.