Article
GPS Path Tracking Control of Military Unmanned Vehicle
Based on Preview Variable Universe Fuzzy Sliding
Mode Control
Houzhong Zhang
1
, Xiangtian Yang
1
, Jiasheng Liang
1,
*, Xing Xu
1
and Xiaoqiang Sun
1,2
Citation: Zhang, H.; Yang, X.; Liang,
J.; Xu, X.; Sun, X. GPS Path Tracking
Control of Military Unmanned
Vehicle Based on Preview Variable
Universe Fuzzy Sliding Mode
Control. Machines 2021, 9, 304.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
machines9120304
Academic Editor: Dario Richiedei
Received: 25 September 2021
Accepted: 12 November 2021
Published: 23 November 2021
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1
Automobile Engineering Research Institute, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China;
1000004025@ujs.edu.cn (H.Z.); 2221904110@stmail.ujs.edu.cn (X.Y.); xuxing@ujs.edu.cn (X.X.);
sxq@ujs.edu.cn (X.S.)
2
Yangzhou Aoterui Automobile Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., Yangzhou 225008, China
* Correspondence: 2211804024@stmail.ujs.edu.cn
Abstract:
In the process of the continuous development and improvement of modern military
systems, military unmanned vehicles play an important role in field reconnaissance and strategic
deployment. In this paper, the precise tracking algorithm of a military unmanned vehicle, based
on GPS navigation, is studied. Firstly, the optimal preview point is obtained according to the data
points of a differential GPS signal. Secondly, the pure tracking algorithm is used to calculate the
demand steering angle, and a variable universe fuzzy sliding mode controller is designed to control
the lateral motion of the vehicle, which is verified by the joint simulation platform of Simulink
and CarSim, under multiple working conditions. Finally, the actual vehicle is verified by using the
Autobox platform. The results show that the lateral motion control of path tracking designed in
this paper can achieve an accurate and effective control effect, and has real-time performance for
engineering applications.
Keywords:
global positioning system; unmanned vehicle; path tracking control; lateral stability;
variable universe fuzzy sliding mode control
1. Introduction
In recent years, with the continuous evolution of modern military war, the demand
for intelligent and unmanned military vehicles, such as military reconnaissance vehicles
and unmanned combat vehicles, is increasing. China is also paying increasing attention
to the unmanned technology research of military vehicles, to ensure a high scientific and
technological level, and modern combat strength of its army [
1
,
2
]. Among them, the
unmanned reconnaissance off-road vehicle for field operations is an important military
vehicle, which can complete path exploration and tactical reconnaissance tasks in dangerous
field environments (e.g., swamps, minefields, etc.). A military unmanned vehicle realizes
autonomous path tracking mainly by using GPS coordinates and its own GPS positioning
as the input of the desired path. Based on the above background, this paper carries out
GPS path tracking control of a military unmanned vehicle. Research on the path following
control of an unmanned vehicle can be defined as work in which the vehicle is regarded as
a point (the control point) to track a geometric curve (expected path), which has nothing to
do with time, and only represents the position information, that is, the control point can
continuously track the target path preview point on the desired path at a given speed [
3
].
Usually, a lateral motion controller is designed on the assumption that the longitudinal
speed is constant, so that the lateral displacement error between the control point and the
desired path converges gradually to zero. Therefore, the control problem of path tracking
can be divided into the following two parts: preview point selection and lateral motion
control. The pilot’s preview model was first proposed by the academician Guo Konghui.
The pilot’s preview model was established to simulate the driver’s consciousness, and,
Machines 2021, 9, 304. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines9120304 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/machines
