In developing path tracking controller for autonomous vehicles, a properly tuned controller will work well for a certain range of driving conditions but may need to be re-tuned for others. This study ...presents the development of an adaptive controller with fuzzy supervisory system for trajectory tracking control of an autonomous armoured vehicle. A knowledge database is built using Particle Swarm Optimisation which is the mainframe of the Fuzzy supervisory system in adapting to various trajectories and speed. The proposed controller is simulated on a nonlinear vehicle model, and experimental results for the controller are presented to evaluate the proposed controller.
•Adaptive steering controller for trajectory tracking of an armoured vehicle is developed.•Base controller is a modified Stanley Controller, aimed to adapt to varying speed and heading error.•Adaptive mechanism is equipped with optimal knowledge database and Fuzzy Supervisory Control.•Simulation results show 16–94% lower lateral error compared to the original Stanley Controller.•Experimental results show realistic steering actions that mimic human driver’s response.
Despite considerable restructuring since the end of the Cold War, the European armoured vehicle industry remains largely fragmented along national lines. As stagnating domestic budgets, rising R&D ...and production costs and the limits of export-focused industrial strategies provide an economic imperative for further consolidation, the merger of Nexter and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann in 2015 has often been regarded as a mere starting point for a wider trans-European reorganisation process which could even result in a land-based equivalent to Airbus. This article proposes a new classification system to identify the 'prime competitors' of the European armoured vehicle industry and debates prospects for further consolidation among them. By means of a volume-based variant of the HHI, concentration in European procurement of armoured vehicles is estimated and various merger simulations are conducted. The results suggest that, while the European armoured vehicle industry will likely experience further consolidation, this process will probably be too small in scope to create an 'Airbus of the land systems sector'. In the medium to long term, however, market pressures and collaborative programmes such as the Main Ground Combat System might have the potential to create a 'European champion' in selected subsectors of the armoured vehicle industry.
To mitigate the blast loads of mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) under a vehicle and reduce the injury of occupants, three hull shapes have been designed according to the bottom structure ...of a light armoured vehicle: double-V hull (DVH), triple-V hull (TVH), and trapezoidal hull (TH). The multimaterial arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (MM-ALE) algorithm was used to simulate vehicle bottom explosions. The simulation results show that DVH has the best load transfer path, rendering smaller occupant damage parameters with DVH installation and indicating that the best protection performance premised on meeting light weight requirements can be provided by DVH. Furthermore, multiobjective optimization of DVH has been carried out so that the protection performance can be further improved only by changing its dimension parameters. Compared with the performance of the original bottom structure of the vehicle, the optimized design of DVH could reduce the left and right lower tibia forces by 33.3% and 41.75%, respectively, and the mass decreased by 43.05%.
•To realize the lightweight of the vehicle, multi-V hulls to resist the threat of explosion was proposed for a light armoured vehicle.•The designed structure can solve the problem of poor passability and stability of the V-shaped structure.•The multi-objective optimization method was used to achieve the best performance of the structure only by changing the dimensional parameters.•The research process will provide a reference for the design of the anti-blast structure.
This study presents the development and optimization of a proposed path tracking controller for an autonomous armoured vehicle. A path tracking control is developed based on an established Stanley ...controller for autonomous vehicles. The basic controller is modified and applied on a non-linear, 7degree-of-freedom armoured vehicle model, and consists of various modules such as handling model, tire model, engine, and transmission model. The controller is then optimized using particle swarm optimization algorithm to select the optimum set of controller parameters. The main motivation of this study is that implementation of path tracking control on an autonomous armoured vehicle is still very limited and it is important to have a specific study on this field due to the different dynamics and properties of the armoured vehicle compared to normal passenger vehicles. Several road courses are considered and the performance of the developed controller in guiding the vehicle along these courses was compared against the original Stanley Controller. It was found that the optimized controller managed to improve the overall lateral error throughout the courses with 24–96% reduction in lateral error. Also, the optimization for the proposed controller was found to converge faster than its counterpart with up to 93% better solution.
As Canadian police services rely on their emergency response teams (ERT) to respond to different calls for service, their reliance also requires police services to possess the equipment necessary to ...support their ERT. Since 2004, an ongoing trend remains that police services procure tactical armoured vehicles (TAVs) for their ERTs. In the current article, we explore trends in the procurement of TAVs by Canadian police services comparatively, drawing on two distinct data sets. The first is a content analysis derived from news media and the second is the result of a survey of ERTs across Canadian police services. Our purpose is to explore different trends in the procurement of TAVs by police services, looking comparatively at secondary sources and primary data to better understand the composition of ERTs, the positioning of TAVs within tactical policing and shed light on whether some TAVs are procured more often than others. Discussion centres on the relationship between TAVs and ERT –the need versus desire for TAVs – as well as how policing needs are interpreted and impacted by calls to defund the police.
With the improvement of China’s military strength, military armoured vehicles are very effective in dealing with various harsh environments. The poisonous gas environment is very serious against ...the body of the military armoured vehicle. For this reason, the damage-resistant material for the car needs to be developed, and the corrosion resistance of the material is analysed. Metal and polymer damage resistant materials are selected as research objects. In the three environments of alkaline poison gas, industrial poison gas and acid gas, the outdoor exposure test is carried out, and the indoor accelerated test under the combined environmental factors is implemented to obtain the mechanism of corrosion and aging behaviour of the typical material of the vehicle. Experiments show that the damage resistant material can effectively enhances the corrosion resistance of the car body in a poisonous gas environment.
The level of radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field emitted from a military armoured vehicle antenna was investigated to identify possible adverse health effect on personnel, especially in the ...near field region. Both E-Field and H-Field radiations levels emitted from antenna were recorded by emphasising on the main areas of crew working station. To date, open literature on military vehicle and equipment RF radiation hazard safety assessment has limited numbers of discussion especially on RF source distance, location and mode of power transmission. In this investigation, RF levels from two radio antennas were measured, high frequency (HF) and very high frequency (VHF) with the low and high-power transmission. Measurements were taken in two distinct locations namely; commander and gunner respectively with three different conditions; open hatch, close hatch and open hatch with standing crews which representing the normal and combat situations. The measured E-Field and H-Field levels were then assessed for compliance with occupational reference levels of Military Standard 464C, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for Military Workplace standards and International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines. The occupational standard was exceeded on commander and gunner area at certain condition; nevertheless, the rest of the conditions complied within the occupational standard.
In order to improve handling performance of a hybrid 8-Wheel-Drive vehicle, the handling performance control strategy was proposed. For armoured vehicle, besides handling stability in high speed, the ...minimum steer radius in low speed is also a key tactical and technical index. Based on that, the proposed handling performance control strategy includes 'Handling Stability' and 'Radius Minimization' control modes. In 'Handling Stability' control mode, 'Neutralsteer Radio' is defined to adjust the steering characteristics to satisfy different demand in different speed range. In 'Radius Minimization' control mode, the independent motors are controlled to provide an additional yaw moment to decrease the minimum steer radius. In order to verify the strategy, a simulation platform was built including engine and continuously variable transmission systems, generator and battery systems, independent motors and controllers systems, vehicle dynamic and tyre mechanical systems. The simulation results show that the handling performance of the vehicle can be enhanced significantly, and the minimum steer radius can be decreased by 20% which is significant improvement compared to the common level of main battle armoured vehicle around the world.
Attacks with improvised explosive device (IED) constituted the main threat to, for example, Polish soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Improving safety during transport in an armored vehicle has become ...an important issue. The main purpose of the presented research is to investigate the mechanism of lower leg injuries during explosion under an armored vehicle. Using a numerical anatomic model of the lower leg, the analysis of the leg position was carried out. In all presented positions, the stress limit of 160 (MPa) was reached, which indicates bone damage. There is a difference in stress distribution in anatomic elements pointing to different injury mechanisms.
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