avt_341_potential_field_planner_node

Potential Field Planner Node

An alternative to the spline-based local planner is the potential field planning algorithm. Although listed as a local planner, it can be used as either a local or global planner.

Unlike the spline planner, the potential field planner does not follow a centerline. Therefore, when given a list of waypoints or points in a global path, it will plan to the farthest available point.

The subscribed and published topics are identical to the spline planner, but the parameters of the launch file are different, see below.

Subuscribed Topics

• avt_341/odometry (nav_msgs/Odometry) Vehicle odometry from real-time-kinematic or other localization sensor.
• avt_341/occupancy_grid (nav_msgs/OccupancyGrid) Grid showing obstacle locations.
• avt_341/global_path (nav_msgs/Path) Global path defined by user as waypoints in East-North-Up coordinates.

Published Topics

• avt_341/local_path (nav_msgs/Path) Local path with obstacle avoidance and safe steering properties.

Parameters

• ~kp (double, defualt: 5.0) The strength of the repulsive term for obstacles in the occupancy grid.
• ~eta (double, defualt: 100.0) The strength of the attractive term for the final goal point.
• ~cutoff_dist (double, defualt: 20.0) Obstacles farther than this distance away will be ignored.
• ~rate (double, defualt: 50.0) Rate in Hz at which to run the node.
• ~use_global_path (bool, defualt: false) If false, will use the user-input waypoints as the desired path. If true, will use the output of the global planner as the desired path.