A Switched Based Control Strategy for Target Tracking of Autonomous Robotic Vehicles using Range-only Measurements

In this paper we address the pursuing or target tracking problem where an autonomous robotic vehicle is required to move towards a maneuvering target using range-only measurements. A new switched based control strategy is proposed to solve the pursuing problem that can be described as comprising a continuous cycle of two distinct phases: i) the determination of the bearing, and ii) following the direction computed in the previous step while the range is decreasing. We provide conditions under which the switched closed-loop system achieves convergence of the relative distance error to a small neighborhood around zero. Simulation results are presented and discussed.