Design and implementation of control and actuation for an over-actuated research vehicle

AbstractThe RCV is a four wheel drive and steer electrical vehicle developed and built by the Transport Lab at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. It is fully steer-by-wire and each wheel can be individually controlled, both with regard to steering angle, as well as camber and driving torque.The RCV is planned to be used as a common platform for different fields of research, as a rolling laboratory to implement and evaluate research with.In this report the specification and functionalities of the RCV are reviewed and its data collection capabilities are validated and evaluated through classic vehicle dynamic analyses such as circle tests, step steer and roll out tests. Also, some more experimental functionalities such as simple torque vectoring, toe sweep and steering by joystick, as proof of concept of the RCV as a research and prototyping platform.Finally, some suggestions for further developments for the RCV platform are presented