Dynamics and Advanced Motion Control of Unmanned Ground Off-Road Vehicles details both theoretical concepts such as planning and perception when working with UGVs, as well as more practical, hands-on aspects such as torque vectoring control. The book also covers related technologies such as intelligent and electrification of ground vehicles. After an introduction, initial chapters include an exploration of wheel-soil and track-soil interaction mechanisms, motion stability, motion control, fault detection and identification, and fault tolerance control. This book offers readers a detailed understanding of Unmanned Ground Vehicles by combining theory, applications and further developments. Topics are covered in such a way that readers will be well versed on the current field of UGVs and will be able to implement future design and research in a feasible and effective way. Gives a comprehensive analysis and introduction to the dynamics and advanced motion control of unmanned ground off-road vehicles Covers key related technology concepts, such as intelligent and electrification of ground vehicles Details the entire control framework of off-road UGVs and the implementation of controller design
Featuring contributions from industry leaders in their respective fields, this volume presents comprehensive, authoritative coverage of all the major issues involved in road vehicle dynamic behavior. It begins with a short history of road and off-road vehicle dynamics followed by thorough, detailed state-of-the-art chapters on modeling, analysis and optimization in vehicle system dynamics, vehicle concepts and aerodynamics, pneumatic tires and contact wheel-road/off-road, modeling vehicle subsystems, vehicle dynamics and active safety, man-vehicle interaction, intelligent vehicle systems, and road accident reconstruction and passive safety.
This book deals with the analysis of off-road vehicle dynamics from kinetics and kinematics perspectives and the performance of vehicle traversing over rough and irregular terrain. The authors consider the wheel performance, soil-tire interactions and their interface, tractive performance of the vehicle, ride comfort, stability over maneuvering, transient and steady state conditions of the vehicle traversing, modeling the aforementioned aspects and optimization from energetic and vehicle mobility perspectives. This book brings novel figures for the transient dynamics and original wheel terrain dynamics at on-the-go condition.
Recent years have seen considerable progress towards the goal of autonomous and unmanned ground vehicles which became essential for conducting military operations. These autonomous vehicles have the capability to operate and react to their environments without external control. Autonomous multi-wheeled combat vehicles are crucial for military applications which offer numerous leverages on modern battlefields. Applying autonomy features to such vehicles significantly increases its combat capabilities and expands its applications to work-day and night for risky missions compared with traditional manned ground vehicles. However, it is associated with some challenges because of their large dimension, heavy weight, and complex geometry. Therefore, the development of autonomous combat vehicles has become a cutting-edge research topic in robotics and automotive engineering. This thesis focuses on the control issues related to applying autonomous features for the multi-wheeled combat vehicles due to their significant influence especially when navigating in the presence of obstacles. The primary concern of path planning is to compute collision-free paths. Another equally important issue is to compute a realizable path and, if possible, achieving an optimal path bringing the vehicle to the final position. For these purposes, the developed methodology considers the combination between the optimal control theory using Pontryagin's Minimum Principle (PMP) and Artificial Potential Filed (APF). In addition, a four-axle bicycle model of the actual multi-wheeled combat vehicle considering the vehicle body lateral and yaw dynamics is developed. To generate the vehicle optimal path in real time, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model is proposed. The introduced ANN model allows the vehicle to carry out an autonomous navigation in real time with maintaining the path optimality by considering the vehicle parameters in terms of yaw rate, lateral velocity, heading angle and steering angle. Subsequently, a comparative study and performance analysis of the developed optimal path algorithm using PMP with Dynamic Programming (DP) method was carried out in order to guarantee the global optimum solution. Determining the accurate vehicle position offers sufficient capabilities which increase the autonomy and safety features, especially in case of off-road locomotion. In this regard, a hybrid framework for positioning technique based on the integration of GPS/INS for combat vehicles is developed. The developed algorithm is able to provide an accurate and reliable vehicle positioning information, even if the number of visible satellites is less than four, due to the harsh vehicle operation environments. In this work, a scaled multi-wheeled combat vehicle model was developed using system identification methodology. Different system identification methods are considered and applied to solve and identify this problem. An advanced control system in terms of fuzzy logic, robust, and PID control systems are designed. In addition, the Processor-In-the-Loop co-simulation (PIL) is considered, which permits and achieves a more realistic situation where the developed control algorithms running on a dedicated processor. The performance and effectiveness of the developed controllers are evaluated for vehicle heading angle tracking using different predefined heading angles. Furthermore, a comparative evaluation to assess the feasibility of the developed control algorithms is discussed. Finally, it should be stated that this work offers the first attempt in the open literature to control the scaled multi-wheeled combat vehicle using different advanced control techniques such as, fuzzy logic, [...]∞.
Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been used in military operations for more than 60 years, with torpedoes, cruise missiles, satellites, and target drones being early examples.1 They have also been widely used in the civilian sector-for example, in the disposal of explosives, for work and measurement in radioactive environments, by various offshore industries for both creating and maintaining undersea facilities, for atmospheric and undersea research, and by industry in automated and robotic manufacturing. Recent military experiences with AVs have consistently demonstrated their value in a wide range of missions, and anticipated developments of AVs hold promise for increasingly significant roles in future naval operations. Advances in AV capabilities are enabled (and limited) by progress in the technologies of computing and robotics, navigation, communications and networking, power sources and propulsion, and materials. Autonomous Vehicles in Support of Naval Operations is a forward-looking discussion of the naval operational environment and vision for the Navy and Marine Corps and of naval mission needs and potential applications and limitations of AVs. This report considers the potential of AVs for naval operations, operational needs and technology issues, and opportunities for improved operations.
Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) are expected to play a key role in the Army's Objective Force structure. These UGVs would be used for weapons platforms, logistics carriers, and reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition among other things. To examine aspects of the Army's UGV program, assess technology readiness, and identify key issues in implementing UGV systems, among other questions, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology asked the National Research Council (NRC) to conduct a study of UGV technologies. This report discusses UGV operational requirements, current development efforts, and technology integration and roadmaps to the future. Key recommendations are presented addressing technical content, time lines, and milestones for the UGV efforts.
In the event of large crises (earthquakes, typhoons, floods, ...), a primordial task of the fire and rescue services is the search for human survivors on the incident site. This is a complex and dangerous task, which - too often - leads to loss of lives among the human crisis managers themselves. This book explains how unmanned search can be added to the toolkit of the search and rescue workers, offering a valuable tool to save human lives and to speed up the search and rescue process. The introduction of robotic tools in the world of search and rescue is not straightforward, due to the fact that the search and rescue context is extremely technology-unfriendly, meaning that very robust solutions, which can be deployed extremely quickly, are required. Multiple research projects across the world are tackling this problem and in this book, a special focus is placed on showcasing the results of the European Union ICARUS project on this subject. The ICARUS project proposes to equip first responders with a comprehensive and integrated set of unmanned search and rescue tools, to increase the situational awareness of human crisis managers, so that more work can be done in a shorter amount of time. The ICARUS tools consist of assistive unmanned air, ground, and sea vehicles, equipped with victim-detection sensors. The unmanned vehicles collaborate as a coordinated team, communicating via ad hoc cognitive radio networking. To ensure optimal human-robot collaboration, these tools are seamlessly integrated into the command and control equipment of the human crisis managers and a set of training and support tools is provided to them in order to learn to use the ICARUS system. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement number 285417. The publishing of this book was funded by the EC FP7 Post-Grant Open Access Pilot programme.
By the dawn of the new millennium, robotics has undergone a major transformation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been brought about by the maturity of the field and the advances in its related technologies. From a largely dominant industrial focus, robotics has been rapidly expanding into the challenges of the human world. The new generation of robots is expected to safely and dependably co-habitat with humans in homes, workplaces, and communities, providing support in services, entertainment, education, healthcare, manufacturing, and assistance. Beyond its impact on physical robots, the body of knowledge robotics has produced is revealing a much wider range of applications reaching across diverse research areas and scientific disciplines, such as: biomechanics, haptics, neurosciences, virtual simulation, animation, surgery, and sensor networks among others. In return, the challenges of the new emerging areas are proving an abundant source of stimulation and insights for the field of robotics. It is indeed at the intersection of disciplines that the most striking advances happen. The goal of the series of Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) is to bring, in a timely fashion, the latest advances and developments in robotics on the basis of their significance and quality. It is our hope that the wider dissemination of research developments will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations among the research community and contribute to further advancement of this rapidly growing field.
The advance in robotics has boosted the application of autonomous vehicles to perform tedious and risky tasks or to be cost-effective substitutes for their - man counterparts. Based on their working environment, a rough classi cation of the autonomous vehicles would include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), - manned ground vehicles (UGVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs). UAVs, UGVs, AUVs, and ASVs are called UVs (unmanned vehicles) nowadays. In recent decades, the development of - manned autonomous vehicles have been of great interest, and different kinds of autonomous vehicles have been studied and developed all over the world. In part- ular, UAVs have many applications in emergency situations; humans often cannot come close to a dangerous natural disaster such as an earthquake, a ood, an active volcano, or a nuclear disaster. Since the development of the rst UAVs, research efforts have been focused on military applications. Recently, however, demand has arisen for UAVs such as aero-robotsand ying robotsthat can be used in emergency situations and in industrial applications. Among the wide variety of UAVs that have been developed, small-scale HUAVs (helicopter-based UAVs) have the ability to take off and land vertically as well as the ability to cruise in ight, but their most importantcapability is hovering. Hoveringat a point enables us to make more eff- tive observations of a target. Furthermore, small-scale HUAVs offer the advantages of low cost and easy operation.
This study assesses the potential of new technology to reduce logistics support requirements for future Army combat systems. It describes and recommends areas of research and technology development in which the Army should invest now to field systems that will reduce logistics burdens and provide desired capabilities for an "Army After Next (AAN) battle force" in 2025.
