Title
Evolved neuromorphic radar-based altitude controller for an autonomous open-source blimp
Author
Gonzalez Alvarez, M. (Student TU Delft)
Dupeyroux, J.J.G. (TU Delft Control & Simulation) 
Corradi, Federico (Stichting IMEC Nederland)
de Croon, G.C.H.E. (TU Delft Control & Simulation)
Contributor
Pappas, George J. (editor)
Kumar, Vijay (editor)
Date
2022
Abstract
Robotic airships offer significant advantages in terms of safety, mobility, and extended flight times. However, their highly restrictive weight constraints pose a major challenge regarding the available computational resources to perform the required control tasks. Neuromorphic computing stands for a promising research direction for addressing such problem. By mimicking the biological process for transferring information between neurons using spikes or impulses, spiking neural networks (SNNs) allow for low power consumption and asynchronous event-driven processing. In this paper, we propose an evolved altitude controller based on an SNN for a robotic airship which relies solely on the sensory feedback provided by an airborne radar. Starting from the design of a lightweight, low-cost, open-source airship, we also present an SNN-based controller architecture, an evolutionary framework for training the network in a simulated environment, and a control strategy for ameliorating the gap with reality. The system's performance is evaluated through real-world experiments, demonstrating the advantages of our approach by comparing it with an artificial neural network and a linear controller. The results show an accurate tracking of the altitude command with an efficient control effort.
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:8546fb36-5658-485a-bee8-47e5e67316ea
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA46639.2022.9812149
Embargo date
2023-07-01
ISBN
978-1-7281-9681-7
Source
2022 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2022
Event
2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2022-05-23 → 2022-05-27, Philadelphia, United States
Series
Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1050-4729
Bibliographical note
Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.
Part of collection
Institutional Repository
Document type
conference paper
Rights
© 2022 M. Gonzalez Alvarez, J.J.G. Dupeyroux, Federico Corradi, G.C.H.E. de Croon