Integrated navigation system for unmanned vehicle convoy

Abstract

This work discusses experimental results of integrated navigation system of unmanned vehicle convoy with manned master vehicle in road climatic environment of Russia. The developed navigation system is comprised of odometric system integrated with computer vision equipped with video cameras and radars. Navigation is supported by virtual sensors of parameters of center-of-mass motion, and motion path is adjusted by data of video camera and radar. The algorithms of wheel navigation system have been designed on the basis of concept of virtual data sensors. Virtual data sensors allow to solve navigation problem in minimum hardware configuration. As a consequence of the research, the operable integrated navigation system has been developed allowing detection of position of unmanned vehicles in convoy. The proposed engineering solutions have been confirmed by experimental results of navigation system for unmanned vehicle convoy with manned master vehicle in road climatic environment of Russia. The research novelty is in experimental verification of efficiency of algorithms and software of the developed integrated navigation system for unmanned vehicle convoy with manned master vehicle.