A heuristic investigation into the design of a dynamic yaw controller for a high-speed tracked vehicle

Abstract

This work presents a heuristic investigation into the design of a dynamic yaw controller for a high-speed tracked vehicle to prevent it from oversteering. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first time this problem has been examined. Accidents involving tracked vehicles generally result in significant damage, serious injury and, in some cases, loss of life; this is due to their size and mass. A system that makes these vehicles operate safely in difficult and stressful situations would be welcomed. A switched mode structure is proposed for the dynamic yaw controller based on switching lines in the β phase plane. The lines are selected from the response of the vehicle at a speed, just before it goes into oversteer. The dynamic yaw controller is shown to prevent the vehicle from oversteering when it initiates a turn at its maximum speed on an off-road sandy track, with a coefficient of friction between the tracks and ground of 0.68. At a reduced coefficient of 0.5, the dynamic yaw controller applies the brakes continuously, which brings the vehicle to a stop; whether this is good or not depends on the situation.