Systems engineering approach to develop guidance, navigation and control algorithms for unmanned ground vehicle

Abstract

Despite the growing popularity of unmanned systems being deployed in the military domain, limited research efforts have been dedicated to the progress of ground system developments. Dedicated efforts for unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) focused largely on operations in continental environments, places where vegetation is relatively sparse compared to a tropical jungle or plantation estate commonly found in Asia. This research explore methods for the development of an UGV that would be capable of operating autonomously in a densely cluttered environment such as that found in Asia. This thesis adopted a systems engineering approach to understand the pertinent parameters affecting the performance of the UGV in order to evaluate, design and develop the necessary guidance, navigation and control algorithms for the UGV. The thesis uses methodologies such as the pure pursuit method for path following and the vector field histogram method for obstacle avoidance as the main guidance and control algorithm governing the movement of the UGV. The thesis then considers the use of feature recognition method of image processing to form the basis of the target identification and tracking algorithm.