The purpose of this thesis is to develop a generic control law for unmanned-trail vehicles as they follow a manned lead vehicle. The development of this semi-robotic convoy control law begins with a model of an individual vehicle. Two methods are then explored of coupling these into a model of the column. A relationship between these two methods is derived. The model is then expanded to n vehicles. Utilizing a digital simulation, a three-vehicle convoy is controlled in one degree-of-freedom (DOF) using pole-placement, state-feedback control theory. The analysis shows this to be an unacceptable method of control due to the steady-state error. The 1 DOF model is then controlled with series compensation. Simulations verify that the steady-state error is eliminated. The system is then expanded into a 2 DOF system. Using the same series compensator, a 2 DOF simulation is developed. It is shown that the only additional requirement of the 2 DOF system is that the trail vehicles need to determine their orientation. This is accomplished by first saving the position and velocity profile of the lead vehicle and then developing a search algorithm to find the appropriate information. The simulation verifies that the convoy is controlled within the specifications of the system. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/46126 |
| Date | 05 December 2009 |
| Creators | Economy, A. Tommy |
| Contributors | Mechanical Engineering, Robertshaw, Harry H., Reinholtz, Charles F., Leonard, Robert G. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | xi, 97 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 23818028, LD5655.V855_1991.E266.pdf |
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