Control System for Tractor-Platooning

A control system for two-tractor platooning was developed, which dealt with follow-up motions for both straight and curvous courses. Firstly, a trajectory of the leading tractor was dynamically obtained by processing the position points of the leading tractor with the method of least squares and curve fitting. Secondly, based on the vehicle kinematic model, a reference course for the following tractor was dynamically created from the trajectory of the leading tractor with a given lateral offset. Finally, an optimal path-tracking controller was designed to guide the following tractor along the reference course. Field tests were conducted on a flat meadow. The test results indicated that the following tractor followed up the leading tractor successfully. The mean and RMS lateral deviations for the straight course were 0.02 and 0.02 m, respectively, whereas those for the sinusoidal course were 0.02 and 0.04 m, respectively.