Abstract
The information provided to a chasing quadrotor (Chaser) about a moving target's linear velocity during pursuit offers utility beyond simply knowing how fast the target is moving linearly. During such pursuits for the Chaser, external tracking of its linear velocity is necessary to establish stable close-loop control. The alternative, an open-loop system, relies solely on the linear velocity outputs from its dynamics which usually results in unstable flight performances due to imperfections in the model's fidelity. Thus, this paper presents a Cascading Velocity Model Predictive Control Framework (CVMPC) for the Chaser to leverage on the real-time linear velocity feedback of the target for stable open-loop linear velocity control. By using this information with Gaussian Processes (GPs), the Chaser's linear velocity outputs from its dynamics are augmented in real-time and cascaded from one control step into the next within a Model Predictive Controller. Simulations in Gazebo further verify the performance of CVMPC against a MPC with external linear velocity tracking (close-loop system) with RMSE in euclidean linear velocity and distance being less than 1m/s and 1m respectively.