Guiding an untracked vehicle along a predetermined guide path
First Claim
1. Guidance system for untracked vehicles along a predetermined guide path, defined by guide line means (9) comprisinga steering servo (32) on the vehicle and controlling steering deflection of the steering wheels of the vehicle so that the vehicle will follow the guide path,sensing means (11-16) located on the vehicle in sensing relation to the guide means, connected to and controlling the steering servo (32) to null deviation of the vehicle from the guide path,and means to determine the radius of curvature (s) of the path including three sensing means (11, 12;
- 13, 14;
15,
16) located on the vehicle, by known predetermined distances staggered along the length thereof,and computing means (30) connected to receive the inputs from said three sensing means, said computing means computing the radius of curvature (ρ
) of the path as determined by the outputs from the three sensing means representative of the individual respective relative location of any one of the sensing means (11, 12;
13, 14;
15,
16) from the guide line means (9), and providing a steering deflection control signal to the steering servo (32).
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Accused Products
Abstract
Three sensing coils are located on a vehicle, staggered longitudinally in known distances from each other along the vehicle. The sensing coils pick up the field of a conductor buried in the surface over which the vehicle is to operate and energized with a-c at an audio frequency. From the three output signals derived from the three coil pairs, the radius of curvature of the guide path is computed and the steering deflection of the steering wheels of the vehicle is controlled by the computed radius of curvature to steer the vehicle along the radius; the computed radius of curvature signal may also be used to control other operating parameters, such as vehicle speed; average coil deviation signals may additionally be introduced into the steering control signal, which operates a steering servo, to additionally compensate for minor deviations of the vehicle from the guide path.
24 Citations
14 Claims
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1. Guidance system for untracked vehicles along a predetermined guide path, defined by guide line means (9) comprising
a steering servo (32) on the vehicle and controlling steering deflection of the steering wheels of the vehicle so that the vehicle will follow the guide path, sensing means (11-16) located on the vehicle in sensing relation to the guide means, connected to and controlling the steering servo (32) to null deviation of the vehicle from the guide path, and means to determine the radius of curvature (s) of the path including three sensing means (11, 12; - 13, 14;
15,
16) located on the vehicle, by known predetermined distances staggered along the length thereof,and computing means (30) connected to receive the inputs from said three sensing means, said computing means computing the radius of curvature (ρ
) of the path as determined by the outputs from the three sensing means representative of the individual respective relative location of any one of the sensing means (11, 12;
13, 14;
15,
16) from the guide line means (9), and providing a steering deflection control signal to the steering servo (32). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
- 13, 14;
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10. Method to control steering of an untracked vehicle along a guide line defining a guide path
comprising the steps of generating three deviation signals each signal being representative of deviation of a respectively different location on the vehicle from the guide line; -
computing the radius of curvature of the path from said three deviation signals; and commanding steering of the vehicle to follow a path essentially having said computed radius of curvature. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification