A Path-Following Feedback Control Law of a Five-Axle, Three-Steering Coupled-Vehicle System

Experimental coupled-vehicle systemThis paper presents a new path-following feedback control law of a five-axle, three-steering coupledvehicle system which enables specifying the movements and rotations of its two carriers quantitatively, according to the operating environment. The kinematical equations of the coupled-vehicle system are first converted into time differential equations in a threechain, single-generator chained form. The time differential equations in the chained form are secondly converted into new differential equations with a new variable. The new control law enables the relative orientation between the two carriers to be constant in either a straight-bed carrier configuration or a V-bed carrier configuration, and simultaneously enables the orientations of these carriers functioning as a single carrier relative to the direction of the tangent of the path to be changed quantitatively, according to the locations of obstacles for avoiding collision with them. Asymptotic stability of the new control law is guaranteed by the linear control theory and the Lyapunov’s second method. Especially, the form of the new differential equations facilitates the design of the Lyapunov functions. The validity of the new control law is verified by an experimental five-axle, three-steering coupledvehicle system.