arXiv subjects

Marcelo A. Santos

Publications and source records attributed to Marcelo A. Santos.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Model Predictive Planner for UAV Navigation in Non-Convex Air Corridors

This work presents a motion planning framework for UAV navigation in non-convex urban air corridors. The planner is based on a mixed-integer tracking model predictive control formulation that enforces corridor feasibility and dynamic consistency within a single optimization problem. To guarantee convergence to the target and mitigate the occurrence of local minima induced by non-convex geometry, a shortest-path-based offset cost with feasibility constraints is embedded directly into the planning problem. Numerical simulations show that the proposed formulation generates dynamically valid trajectories that satisfy the corridor constraints and converge to the target without relying on external global planning stages.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2026

A cell-decomposition based path planner for 3D navigation in constrained workspaces

This paper proposes a cell decomposition algorithm for binary occupancy grids that ensures mutual complete visibility from each cell to at least one adjacent cell. This decomposition establishes a simplified framework for verifying path feasibility that can be easily embedded in optimization problems. To illustrate its utility, we formulate both second-order cone programs (SOCP) and their mixed-integer variant (MISOCP) within the proposed framework. Furthermore, we propose the KSP-SOCP method, which combines Yen's k-shortest path algorithm with the SOCP, achieving improved solutions compared to a standard SOCP approach while avoiding the computational burden of MISOCP. The cell decomposition algorithm, KSP-SOCP, and MISOCP approaches were evaluated in 9 city-like workspaces. The decomposition efficiently partitioned each map, enabling both optimization methods to compute feasible paths. The proposed KSP-SOCP achieved time performance comparable to the MISOCP while requiring less memory, making it highly suitable for large-scale problems.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2026

Point-to-Cloud NMPC with Smooth Avoidance Constraints

This paper proposes a finite-horizon optimal control strategy for set-point tracking using a nonlinear model predictive control framework with integrated avoidance capabilities. The formulation employs a smooth point-to-cloud distance metric that ensures continuously differentiable and numerically well-conditioned gradients, even in the presence of regions with complex and nonconvex geometries. This smoothness allows safety constraints to be formulated consistently and differentiably through control barrier functions, resulting in a reliable avoidance behavior for the closed-loop system. Additionally, stationary artificial variables are introduced in the optimal control problem to preserve feasibility under changing set-points. The proposed approach is validated through numerical experiments of an aerial robot, demonstrating accurate tracking and smooth obstacle avoidance in complex environments.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2023

Set-Point Tracking MPC with Avoidance Features

This work proposes a finite-horizon optimal control strategy to solve the tracking problem while providing avoidance features to the closed-loop system. Inspired by the set-point tracking model predictive control (MPC) framework, the central idea of including artificial variables into the optimal control problem is considered. This approach allows us to add avoidance features into the set-point tracking MPC strategy without losing the properties of an enlarged domain of attraction and feasibility insurances in the face of any changing reference. Besides, the artificial variables are considered together with an avoidance cost functional to establish the basis of the strategy, maintaining the recursive feasibility property in the presence of a previously unknown number of regions to be avoided. It is shown that the closed-loop system is recursively feasible and input-to-state-stable under the mild assumption that the avoidance cost is uniformly bounded over time. Finally, two numerical examples illustrate the controller behavior.

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