arXiv subjects

Margarida Camarinha

Publications and source records attributed to Margarida Camarinha.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Connection Towers and Sasaki Metrics on Higher-Order Tangent Bundles

Higher-order tangent bundles possess a rich tower of fibrations, suggesting the existence of geometric structures compatible with their iterated bundle structure. In this paper, we introduce the notion of a connection tower on a higher-order tangent bundle and study the geometric structures induced by such towers. In particular, we show that connection towers determine natural multiconnections, adapted splittings of the tangent bundle, and canonical vector bundle structures on higher-order tangent bundles. We then construct a specific connection tower induced by the Levi-Civita connection of a Riemannian manifold. This construction extends the classical Dombrowski connection map on the tangent bundle and leads naturally to a family of higher-order Sasaki metrics. We study the associated lifts of vector fields and derive explicit Lie bracket formulas for these lifts, together with structural identities for the induced multiconnection. Finally, we determine the Levi-Civita connection of the higher-order Sasaki metrics and derive explicit geodesic equations on the second- and third-order tangent bundles. We also obtain characterization results relating geodesics of the higher-order Sasaki metrics to geodesics on the base manifold.

math.DG↗

arXiv2026

A Generalized Sasaki Metric on the Second-Order Tangent Bundle

This paper constructs a connection map on the second-order tangent bundle induced by a linear connection on the base manifold and uses it to define a generalized Sasaki metric. The associated geodesic equations are derived, and jet-constrained variational problems are shown to yield Riemannian quintics in tension. The construction is then specialized to rigid body attitude dynamics with first-order actuator dynamics, producing an intrinsic higher-order trajectory model on the rotation group. Numerical simulations compare quintics in tension with Riemannian cubics as nominal trajectories and show modest reductions in actuator-relevant cost with comparable tracking performance.

math.MG↗

arXiv2023

Curvature-adapted submanifolds of semi-Riemannian groups

We study semi-Riemannian submanifolds of arbitrary codimension in a Lie group $G$ equipped with a bi-invariant metric. In particular, we show that, if the normal bundle of $M \subset G$ is closed under the Lie bracket, then any normal Jacobi operator $K$ of $M$ equals the square of the associated invariant shape operator $α$. This permits to understand curvature adaptedness to $G$ geometrically, in terms of left translations. For example, in the case where $M$ is a Riemannian hypersurface, our main result states that the normal Jacobi operator commutes with the ordinary shape operator precisely when the left-invariant extension of each of its eigenspaces has first-order tangency with $M$ along all the others. As a further consequence of the equality $K = α^{2}$, we obtain a new case-independent proof of a well-known fact: every three-dimensional Lie group equipped with a bi-invariant semi-Riemannian metric has constant curvature.

math.DG↗

arXiv2019

Variational collision and obstacle avoidance of multi-agent systems on Riemannian manifolds

In this paper we study a path planning problem from a variational approach to collision and obstacle avoidance for multi-agent systems evolving on a Riemannian manifold. The problem consists of finding non-intersecting trajectories between the agent and prescribed obstacles on the workspace, among a set of admissible curves, to reach a specified configuration, based on minimizing an energy functional that depends on the velocity, covariant acceleration and an artificial potential function used to prevent collision with the obstacles and among the agents. We apply the results to examples of a planar rigid body, and collision and obstacle avoidance for agents evolving on a sphere.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2019

Variational point-obstacle avoidance on Riemannian manifolds

In this letter we study variational obstacle avoidance problems on complete Riemannian manifolds. The problem consists of minimizing an energy functional depending on the velocity, covariant acceleration and a repulsive potential function used to avoid a static obstacle on the manifold, among a set of admissible curves. We derive the dynamical equations for extrema of the variational problem, in particular on compact connected Lie groups and Riemannian symmetric spaces. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed method.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2018

Dynamic interpolation for obstacle avoidance on Riemannian manifolds

This work is devoted to studying dynamic interpolation for obstacle avoidance. This is a problem that consists of minimizing a suitable energy functional among a set of admissible curves subject to some interpolation conditions. The given energy functional depends on velocity, covariant acceleration and on artificial potential functions used for avoiding obstacles. We derive first-order necessary conditions for optimality in the proposed problem; that is, given interpolation and boundary conditions we find the set of differential equations describing the evolution of a curve that satisfies the prescribed boundary values, interpolates the given points and is an extremal for the energy functional. We study the problem in different settings including a general one on a Riemannian manifold and a more specific one on a Lie group endowed with a left-invariant metric. We also consider a sub-Riemannian problem. We illustrate the results with examples of rigid bodies, both planar and spatial, and underactuated vehicles including a unicycle and an underactuated unmanned vehicle.

math.OC↗

arXiv2018

Variational collision avoidance problems on Riemannian manifolds

In this article we introduce a variational approach to collision avoidance of multiple agents evolving on a Riemannian manifold and derive necessary conditions for extremals. The problem consists of finding non-intersecting trajectories of a given number of agents, among a set of admissible curves, to reach a specified configuration, based on minimizing an energy functional that depends on the velocity, covariant acceleration and an artificial potential function used to prevent collision among the agents. The results are validated through numerical experiments on the manifolds $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ and $S^2$.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2017

Variational obstacle avoidance problem on Riemannian manifolds

We introduce variational obstacle avoidance problems on Riemannian manifolds and derive necessary conditions for the existence of their normal extremals. The problem consists of minimizing an energy functional depending on the velocity and covariant acceleration, among a set of admissible curves, and also depending on a navigation function used to avoid an obstacle on the workspace, a Riemannian manifold. We study two different scenarios, a general one on a Riemannian manifold and, a sub-Riemannian problem. By introducing a left-invariant metric on a Lie group, we also study the variational obstacle avoidance problem on a Lie group. We apply the results to the obstacle avoidance problem of a planar rigid body and an unicycle.

math.OC↗