Design and real-time implementation of a control system for port AGV application

This article presents the design and real-time implementation of a control system for an Automated Ground Vehicle (AGV) for use in port application. The control system consists of a Navigation System (NS) and a communication system (CS) that link the NS to the host computer. The design and development took about 4 years to complete of which 1.5 years were spent on the site trial testing of the design. The final design provides a AGV system with an accuracy of about ±1 cm. In this paper, we describes the overall system approach of the NS design and highlights the use of H_∞ loop-shaping method for controller design and extended Kalman filter (EKF) for estimator design of the position sensors. The issues related to the implementation of the design using real-time embedded software are also discussed. We conclude the paper by presenting sample test results from the extensive site trials conducted. These trial results verify and demonstrate achieved system performance in term of position accuracy and maneuvers.