Title: Unmanned ground vehicles: adaptive control system for real-time rollover prevention

Authors: Malavi Clifford Mlati; Zenghui Wang

Addresses: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Africa, Florida, 1709, South Africa ' Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Africa, Florida, 1709, South Africa

Abstract: Real-time rollover prevention of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) is very paramount to their reliability and survivability when operating on unknown and rough terrains like mines or other planets of our solar system. Rollover index, which indicates the propensity for rollover and the roll angle variables, is a vital input to the rollover prevention system including active suspension control and speed control. To compute the rollover index, the roll angle must be measured, which requires expensive sensors and cannot be measured easily. Here, we use an adaptive control algorithm based on the Recursive Least Squares Estimator; and the rollover index and roll angle can be computed and subsequently real-time adjust the UGV speed, suspension or steering angle to prevent vehicle rollover. The whole system is realised within Matlab/Simulink environment to emulate real-world application. Simulation and comparison results confirm that the adaptive control algorithm and technique perform reliably in preventing UGV rollover.

Keywords: adaptive control system; unmanned ground vehicle; roll angle; rollover index; recursive least squares; real-time rollover prevention; active suspension control; speed control; UGV speed; suspension; steering angle.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVAS.2021.118047

International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, 2021 Vol.16 No.1, pp.81 - 95

Accepted: 05 May 2021
Published online: 08 Oct 2021 *

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