Development, Testing, and Assessment of a Kinematic Path-Following Model for Towing Vehicle Systems

A kinematic path-following model is developed based on an existing modeling framework established by the authors [1, 2] for prediction of the paths of towing vehicle systems. The presented path-following model determines the path of the towing vehicle using the vehicle’s speed and acceleration data collected by an inertial measurement unit (IMU). An Ackerman steering model was presented to calculate instantaneous directional angles and radii for each towed vehicle based on its geometric data and steering angle. In that model the off-tracking effect is properly captured. A 1:4 scale model for a towing vehicle system was built to test the developed steering model, and it was found that the angles and radii of the towing vehicle and each towed unit calculated using the Ackerman steering model agreed very well with those measured from the scale model. A hitch back model was then developed based on the steering model to simulate the continuous motion of the towing vehicle system and precisely follow its path. An algorithm was developed based on the hitch back model and programmed using C++. The developed algorithm allows us to better verify the path-following accuracy of the developed model. Simulation results showed that the predicted path of the towing vehicle system was very close to its real path and the off-tracking effect had been properly reflected. The proposed kinematic model and modeling methodology can be extensively applied to study the kinematics of tractor trailers and other types of road trains.