An adaptive control allocator for autonomous vehicles with parameter uncertainty

In this article, an adaptive control allocation scheme for a class of nonlinear vehicles is proposed. The parameter uncertainty of the effectors is considered in the design of the control allocation algorithm. A reference model is integrated in the framework to overcome the negative effects brought by the parameter uncertainty. The optimum of the solution is discussed for a class of objectives. Stability proof is given. Compared to most existing methods, the conditions to guarantee the stability of the system are relaxed, which is addressed in the theoretical analysis and the experiment. Finally, a digital simulation and an experiment based on a spacecraft simulator are implemented. The results of the simulation and the experiment validate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed adaptive control allocator.