Modeling and motion control of an articulated-frame-steering hydraulic mobile machine

The paper addresses autonomous motion control (path-following in particular) of an articulated-frame-steering (AFS) hydraulically actuated mobile machine. We first propose a kinematic model of the vehicle, together with a simple model for steering hydraulic actuator. The kinematic model is derived under simplifying assumptions that there are no slipping and no skidding. The accuracy of the model is then validated using an elaborated semi-empirical hardware-in-the-loop simulator (GIMsim) of an AFS machine built at IHA/TUT. A motion control strategy is then proposed and a path-following control law is derived. Finally, the efficacy of the methodology is shown using GIMsim.