Control and waypoint navigation of an autonomous ground vehicle

Abstract

This thesis describes the initial development of the Texas A&M Autonomous Ground Vehicle test platform and waypoint following software, including the associated controller design. The original goal of the team responsible for the development of the vehicle was to enter the DARPA Grand Challenge in October 2005. A 2004 Ford F150 4x4 pickup was chosen as the vehicle platform and was modified with a 6” suspension lift and 35” tires, as well as a commercial drive-by-wire system. The waypoint following software, the design of which is described in this thesis, is written in C and successfully drives the vehicle on a course defined by GPS waypoints at speeds up to 50 mph. It uses various heuristics to determine desired speeds and headings and uses control feedback to guide the vehicle towards these desired states. A vehicle dynamics simulator was also developed for software testing. Ultimately, this software will accept commands from advanced obstacle avoidance software so that the vehicle can navigate in true off-road terrain.