Scaled Instrumented Vehicle System: Modelling, Control and Hardware

This paper describes the current development of a scale model vehicle laboratory at Virginia Tech. This lab and the scale model cars contained therein provide a testbed for the small scale development stage of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). In addition, the lab serves as a home to the prototype display being developed for an educational museum exhibit. The modelling and control of the scale vehicle is given and the implementation of the controller in hardware is discussed. The vehicle platform is described and the hardware and software architecture detailed. The car described is capable of operating manually and autonomously. In autonomous mode, several sensors are utilised including: infrared, magnetic, ultrasound, and image based technology. The operation of each sensor type is described and the information received by the processor from each is discussed. The possibility exists to implement many different types of controllers to perform path following or realise other control objectives