1.

Vehicle in planar motion

Fig. 1 A vehicle in planar motion

In planar motion, the vehicle has three degrees of freedom.
* Translation in 2D plane (with respect to the X and Y axes or the x and y axes). That is

vC VX I VY J

or vC vx i v y j

(1)
* Rotation about the Z or z axis.

B K or B k

(2)

For a 2D motion shown in Fig. 1, K k , hence the angular velocity can be written
unambiguously as

(3)

B k r k

where r is the yaw rate about the z axis.

2. Velocities and accelerations
The velocities (and other vector quantities) can be transformed between the two frames G and B
by the matrices
[ R ]B / G

cos
sin
0

sin
cos
0

0
0

and [ R ]G / B

cos
sin

Hence the velocity components in G and B frames are related by

sin
cos
0

0
1

(4)

 vx
VX
cos
v [ R ] V sin
G/B
Y
y

0
0

0
VX
vx
cos
V [ R ] v sin
B/G
y
Y

0
0
0

sin

0 VX
0 VY
1 0

cos
0
sin
cos

0
0

(5)

vx
v
y

(6)

1 0

The acceleration of the mass center C is the derivative of the velocity with respect to time.

d vC
ac
dt

(7)

This acceleration is observed in the global (fixed) coordinate, and we may call it the absolute
velocity. However, in many scenarios, the velocity is expressed in the body frame, which can be
moving. For example, we may make the x coordinate axis of the body frame along the length
direction of the vehicle.

Based on Coriolis theorem, the time derivative of any vector V as observed from the fixed

XYZ coordinate system is equal to the time derivative of V as observed from the xyz coordinate

system, plus V , namely

dV
dt

XYZ

dV

dt

(8)

xyz

Then we have

d vC d vC
ac

dt
dt

XYZ

d vC

dt

vC

(9)

xyz

In Eq (9), the angular velocity r K r k . In the xyz coordinate frame, the velocity of point

C can be expressed as vC v x i v y j , and the acceleration in the xyz coordinate frame can be
expressed as

d vC
dt

(10)
Substituting (10) into (9), we have

v x i v y j
xyz

ac v x i v y j r k v x i v y j

v x rv y i v y rv x j

(11)
where we express the absolute acceleration in x, y and z directions.
Next let us consider the forces and moments. The resultant force and moment are vectors, and
they can be expressed in the global frame G and the body frame B.

F FX I FY J

or F Fx i Fy j

(12)

and

M MZ K Mz k

(13)
As discussed above, we have
Fx
FX
cos
F [ R] F sin
G/B
Y
y

0
0

sin
cos
0

0
0
1

FX
F
Y
0

FX
Fx
cos
F [ R ] F sin
B/G
y
Y

0
0
0

sin
cos
0

0
0
1

Fx
F
y
0

(14)

(15)

and M z M Z , since k K .

3. Newton law
Based on Newtons second law, we have

F m aC

(16)

M IG

(17)
where I G is the matrix of the moment of inertia. It is more convenient to express all the
vectors in the body frame B. Based on Eqs (16-17), we have

Fx i Fy j m v x rv y i m v y rvx j

(18)

M z k I z r k

(19)
where I z is the moment of inertia around the z axis, or the z-component of the matrix of the
moment of inertia.
Ix
I G 0
0

0
Iy
0

0
0
I z

(20)
where we assume that the vehicle is symmetric about the x, y, and z axes, so that the matrix is
diagonal, as shown in Eq (20). Based on Eqs (18-19), we can obtain the equations of motion for
2D planar motion of a vehicle as follows.
Fx m v x rv y

(21)
Fy m v y rvx

(22)
M z I z r

(23)
There three governing equations are expressed in the body frame B.