Design and implementation of PLC-based autonomous construction system of unmanned vibratory roller

Abstract

The vibratory roller is a piece of vital construction machinery in the field of road construction. The unmanned vibratory roller efficiently utilizes the automated driving technology in the vehicle engineering field, which is innovative for the unmanned road construction. This paper develops and implements the autonomous construction system for the unmanned vibratory roller. Not only does the roller have the function of remote-controlled driving, but it also has the capability of autonomous road construction. The overall system design uses the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) as the kernel controller. It establishes the communication network through multiple Input/Output (I/O) modules, Recommended Standard 232 (RS232) serial port, Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, and wireless networks to control the roller vehicle completely. The locating information is obtained through the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellite navigation equipment group to support the process of autonomous construction. According to the experimental results, the autonomous construction system can finally enable the roller to perform driving operations and construction independently, which was a significant step forward in engineering application.