Energy-Efficient Control for an Unmanned Ground Vehicle in a Wireless Sensor Network

In this paper, an energy-efficient control solution for an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) in a Wireless Sensor Network is proposed. This novel control approach integrates periodic event-triggered control, packet-based control, time-varying dual-rate Kalman filter-based prediction techniques, and dual-rate control. The systematic combination of these control techniques allows the UGV to track the desired path preserving performance properties, despite (i) existing scarce data due to the reduced usage of the wireless sensor device, which results in less number of transmissions through the network and, hence, bandwidth and battery saving; (ii) appearance of some wireless communication problems such as time-varying delays, packet dropouts, and packet disorder; and (iii) coping with a realistic scenario where external disturbance and sensor noise can arise. The main benefits of the control solution are illustrated via simulation.