Design of turning control for a tracked vehicle

The design of a turning control system for an M113 tracked vehicle, which is modeled as a two-input/two-output system, is treated. Since the vehicle model is nonlinear, time varying, and implicit, it is replaced by a set of linear time-invariant models that are valid over certain operation regions. The two inputs to the vehicle are throttle and steering. The two measured output variables are the vehicle´s longitudinal speed and heading rate. The quantitative feedback theory (QFT) is used to obtain a robust control system. The control loop for vehicle speed is designed to track the speed command and reject the disturbance caused by steering. The control loop for the vehicle heading rate is designed to track only the rate command, since the disturbance caused by throttle is negligible. The control system is tested by simulation and shows satisfactory results.<>