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Path Tracking Control of Tractors and Steerable Towed Implements Based On Kinematic and Dynamic Modeling

¹G. Kormann, ²S. Mueller, ²R. Werner

1. John Deere European Technology Innovation Center, Kaiserslautern, Germany
2. University of Kaiserslautern, Germany

recise path tracking control of tractors became the enabling technology for automation of field work in recent years. More and more sophisticated control systems for tractors however revealed that exact positioning of the actual implement is equally or even more important. Especially sloped and curved terrain, strip till fields, buried drip irrigation tapes and high-value crop rows require precise path tracking control of implements. For this reason first path tracking control systems for actively steered implements have been developed. Despite the existence of those systems, little is known about the underlying dynamics of tractors and steerable implements. As a consequence design and setup of current path tracking systems for implements mainly rely on in-field adjustments performed first by the developer and later by the operator. In order to facilitate and improve design and setup of future path tracking systems this work derives non-linear kinematic and dynamic models for actively steered towed implements and the according tractors. The implement models are equipped with steerable wheels and steerable drawbars. Moreover the models are derived in a general manner allowing for easy addition or replacement of actuators. The kinematic and dynamic models are linearized and several control strategies for the given multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) systems are developed. Finally open loop and closed loop simulation results for the models are presented. As a result the derived models provide a deeper insight in the dynamics of tractor and steered implement combinations. They facilitate development, validation and setup of next generation implement steering systems. The comparison of kinematic and dynamic models supports choosing the appropriate model for the given task. Finally the proposed control algorithms outline possible ways of controlling the given MIMO system.

Keyword: steerable implement, kinematic and dynamic model, path tracking control

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