Technical Paper
Virtual Driveline Concept-Based Maneuverability Control of a Skid-Steering UGV with Individually Driven Wheels
2022-03-29
2022-01-0366
In the absence of a physical driveline between the wheels powered by individual electric motors, in this paper, a concept of the virtual driveline system was applied to a small skid-steering unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) for the purpose of controlling its maneuverability, i.e., for fulfilling desired maneuvers in terrain zones constrained by natural and man-made objects. The virtual driveline concept supposes that the UGV driving wheels are connected via a virtual driveline that is a computational code to manage the power split among the wheels by using characteristics of a mechanical driveline system. The kinematic discrepancy factor (KDF) as a mechanical driveline characteristic is utilized to mathematically link the angular velocities and the drive torques of the electrically driven wheels.