Development of an Autonomous Tractor System Using Remote Information Processing

원격 정보처리를 이용한 자율주행 트랙터 시스템의 개발

An autonomous tractor system was developed and its performance was evaluated. The system consisted of a tractor system of and a remote control station. The tractor and the remote control station communicated each other via wireless modems. The tractor had a DGPS(differential global positioning system), sensors, a controller and a modem. The DGPS collected position data and the tractor status was estimated. The information of tractor status and sensors was transferred to the remote control station. Then, the control station determined the control data such as steering angles using a fuzzy controller. The fuzzy controller used the information from the DGPS, sensors, and GIS(geographic information system) data. The control data were obtained by remote signal processing at the control station The control data for autonomous operation were transferred to the tractor controller. The performances of an autonomous tractor were evaluated for various speeds, different initial positions and different initial headings. About 1.3 seconds of time lag was occurred in transferring the tractor status data and the control data. Compensation the time lag, about 27cm deviation was observed at the speed of 0.5m/s and 37cm at the speed of 1m/s. Error caused mainly by the time lag and it would be reduced by developing a full-duplex radio module for controlling the remote tractor.