Guidance of Autonomous Tractor With Four

Wheel Steering

Timo Oksanen
Doctor of Science (technology)
( gy)
Docent (agricultural engineering)

Senior Research Scientist

Aalto University, Finland

Dept of Automation and Systems Technology
Dept.

IEEE RAS AgRobots TC

Webinar #11
September 26, 2013
 The presentation
• Most of the slides related to p
presentations in:
– Oksanen, T., Backman, J. 2013. Guidance system for agricultural
tractor with four wheel steering. IFAC Bio-Robotics Conference,
Sakai Japan
Sakai, Japan, 27
27-29
29 March 2013
2013.
– Oksanen, T. 2012. Embedded control system for large scale
unmanned tractor. 5th Automation Technology for Off-road Equipment
Conference (ATOE), Valencia, Spain, July 8 - July 12, 2012. pp. 3-8.
– Oksanen, T. 2012. Path following algorithm for four wheel
independent steered tractor
tractor. 5th Automation Technology for Off-road
Equipment Conference (ATOE), Valencia, Spain, July 8 - July 12, 2012.
pp. 9-14.

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 2 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Part 1: The tractor "APU
APU-Module
Module"

slide 3
 The Autonomous Tractor 165 hp turbodiesel
~6000 kgg
APU-Module
"APU Module" Hydraulic drivetrain
Each wheel (4WD)
• Steering
• Drive
3p-hitch in both ends
PTO in both ends
Up to 9 aux valves
12V DC electric

Built originally
1990-1992 by a
Finnish company.
E&E refurbished
2011 2012
2011-2012

Originally designed for

unmanned use
(autonomous)

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 4 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Drivetrain
• Four variable displacement hydraulic pumps attached to
shaft of diesel engine
• Constant displacement motors in each wheel hub
• One pump drives one motor, independent control of
wheel drive (coupled only by ground contact)
– ”differential” needs to be realized in electronic control system
• Encoder in each wheel to measure speed
• Each wheel has independent hydraulic actuator for
steering with position sensor; no track rods used
– makes
k it possible
ibl to
t achieve
hi accurate
t Ackermann
A k geometry
t ini
four wheel steering
• Æ 4 wheel drive + 4 wheel steering

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 5 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Drivetrain
• Original
g design
g of tractor did not contain brakes at all
– Hydrostatic system is able to do deceleration
– When the tractor is stationary, a small drift happens
Æ Parking brake implemented in rear wheels
• For implements
p the original
g hydraulic
y system
y provides
p
180 l/min @ 200 bar hydraulic flow
– up to 9 auxiliary hydraulic valves available in both ends
– analogue proportional heads in the directional valves
• The diesel engine
g is from 1990 ((Perkins 1006-6T))
– No built-in ECU
– Monitoring and control of engine needs to be realized

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 6 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Requirements for Electronic control system
• System
y
– Real-timeness
– Safety
• Control interfaces
– Interface to autonomous navigation
g system
y
– Wireless manual control (safety)
• Functions
– Cruise control
– Coupled
p steering
g & drive
– Brake control
– Engine control
– Hitch and PTO control

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 7 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Materials
• The tractor has plenty of I/O; altogether ~80, of which 34
needd to
t be
b PWM (>2A)
( 2A) for
f hydraulic
h d li propos
• A control module Parker/Mitron MCC2212 was selected
due to several reasons
– Plenty of power outputs (12 DO + 10 PWM)
– Programming with C language
– Pretty mature product, more than 10 years
– (th microprocessor
(the i it lf is
itself i outdated)
td t d)
– CAN bus
• ≥4 of these are needed (I/O)
• Communication
– adapted from SAE J1939, mainly 100ms

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 8 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Control system

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 9 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Part 2: Guidance & four wheel steering

slide 11
 Introduction
• The ppresentation shows how to keep p a vehicle with 4WS
on track on the field
• Later the results in real field operation
• Four wheel steering is used in some commercial
tractors:

Case 4894 Claas Xerion series

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 12 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Seed drill (combined)

Tume KL-2500 (1987)

• 125 mm seed coulters
• 250 mm fertilizer coulters
• 0.46 m3 fertilizer
• 0.31 m3 seeds
• Cat2 hitch mounting

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 13 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Materials
• Constraints
– Steering angle (~20 deg)
– Steering rate (8-12 °/s @1500rpm)
– Steering
St i dynamics
d i (delay
(d l ~400ms)
400 )
• Æ limits the driving speed vs. tracking accuracy
– Vehicle
V hi l max. speed
d cannot be
b utilized
ili d (40 kkm/h)
/h)
• Positioning devices a.k.a. "HighDock"
– RTK-GPS (VRS), Trimble 5700
– Fiber-optic gyroscope, KVH DSP-3000 (for heading)
– I li
Inclinometer,
t Inertial-Link
I ti l Li k 3DM-GX2
3DM GX2 (i(incl.
l MEMS gyros))
– Low-level sensor fusion in heading estimation
• Communication:
C i ti 2 250kb
2x 250kbps CAN-bus,
CAN b 100 ms cycle
l time
ti

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 14 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Path tracking
• Route p
planner g
gives waypoints
yp five seconds ahead
– Polyline (x, y), speed, acceleration limit, working position,
heading offset
– The polyline is feasible (e.g. turning radius)
• Error variables in tracking
– Lateral error
– Angular error
• While navigating, the waypoints
are removed as soon as they
are passed

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 15 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Prediction
• The state of robot predicted over finite time horizon
• Constant velocity and zero steering assumed
– Through dynamic model
• Path error calculated for each
predicted state
p
Æ vector of errors
• Weighted average
to form errors
for
o navigation
a ga o

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

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 Structure of inverse kinematic path tracker

x Path Error
Lateral v
Calculation
Controller αF
Inverse
Kinematics αR
Approach Angular
Filter Controller

Feed-
forward

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 17 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 The Approach Filter
• The regulators
g are minimizingg angular
g error and lateral
error, separately
• In case the lateral error is (very) large, ”using”
using only the
crab steering manner for getting on the track would take
a long
g wayy ((as the steering
g angle
g is limited))
• When lateral error is large, the Approach Filter modifies
angular error signal

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 18 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Part 3: Field experiments

slide 19
 Field experiment plan (autumn 2012)
• Preplanned
p route
• 2.4 ha winter wheat
• Strategy
1. six times around
the field; CCW,
reversing in corners
2. looping the rest,
skipping 5-6 swaths
• Refilling tanks
manually
• Latitude 60.45°

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 20 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 the path is linear piecewise (not smooth)
Accuracy
5

0
gle (deg)

-5
ang

-1 0

1200 1250 1300 1350 1400

0 .5

0
latteral (m)

-0 . 5

-1
1200 1250 1300 1350 1400
t im e (s )

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

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 Accuracy
1 .5

1
0 .5
gle (deg)

0
ang

-0 . 5

-1
-1 . 5

1200 1250 1300 1350 1400

0 .0 5
eral (m)

0
late

-0 . 0 5

1200 1250 1300 1350 1400

t im e (s )

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 22 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Accuracy in sowing
2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
angular error (m)
Angular error (deg)

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
-0.2 -0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
lateral error
Lateral error (m)
(m)

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 23 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Three weeks after
after...

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 27 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Three weeks after
after...

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 28 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 About positioning
• RTK-GPS signal
g was under q
quality
y tolerances numerous
times
• Reasons
– North location of the field (southern Finland, >60° latitude)
– Trees around the field,, especially
p y south side
– Correction signal communication errors (GPRS)
• Stats
– Signal availability 85% of time
– Longest
g continuous p period: 18 minutes
– Average period: 5 minutes
• When signal
g bad,, the vehicle waits stationary
y

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 29 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 About GPS
• GPS signal availability may be under tolerances
– GPS fix
– Number of satellites
– HDOP
– Standard deviation of the major axis (pseudorange stats)

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 30 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 The tests continued spring 2013 (6
(6.1ha)...
1ha)

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 31 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 After recalibration of wheel angles...
angles

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 33 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Summary and Conclusions
• Autonomous tractor was developedp 2009-2013
• Guidance algorithm for 4WS
• GPS positioning unreliable in practice (shadows etc)
– Lowers operational efficiency; 15% just for waiting
– Additional equipment would be necessary
• Calibration important in 4WD steering system
• Coverage
C path
th planning
l i was nott highlighted
hi hli ht d here
h
– but it was working too
• IIn YouTube:
Y T b
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b4dBFMLDiI
...or just
j t search
h "apu-module"
" d l "

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 34 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 Acknowledgements
• Academyy of Finland
– funding the Postdoctoral Researcher's project (2011-2013)
• Modulaire Oy
– Original author of the tractor (mechanics & hydraulics) ~1992
• MTT Agrifood Research Finland
– The refurbishment was done together with Mr. Raimo Linkolehto
– In early phases Mr. Antti Hurme studied hydraulics
– The sowing trials were carried out in their production fields
• Aalto University
– "HighDock" was prepared with Mr. Juha Backman
– Prof. Arto Visala p
provided infrastructure

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 35 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013
 References
• Oksanen, T. 2012. Embedded control system for large scale unmanned
tractor 5th Automation Technology for Off-road
tractor. Off road Equipment Conference
(ATOE), Valencia, Spain, July 8 - July 12, 2012. pp. 3-8.
• Oksanen, T. 2012. Path following algorithm for four wheel independent
steered tractor. 5th Automation Technology for
f Off-road
Off Equipment
Conference (ATOE), Valencia, Spain, July 8 - July 12, 2012. pp. 9-14.
• Oksanen, T
Oksanen T. 2012
2012. Modeling and control of hydraulic drivetrain in
agricultural tractor with Position backlash in speed sensor feedback. IFAC
Workshop on Dynamics and Control in Agriculture and Food Processing
(DYCAF2012) Plovdiv
(DYCAF2012), Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Bulgaria, Jun 13 - Jun 16
16, 2012
2012. pp
pp. 13
13-17.
17
• Oksanen, T., Backman, J. 2013. Guidance system for agricultural tractor
with four wheel steering. IFAC Bio-Robotics Conference, Sakai, Japan, 27-
29 March 2013.
• Oksanen, T., Linkolehto, R. 2013. Control of four wheel steering using
independent actuators
actuators. Fourth IFAC International Conference Agricontrol
2013, Espoo, Finland, 28-30 August 2013.

IEEE RAS TC on Agricultural Robotics and Automation

slide 36 Webinar #011 Timo Oksanen 26.9.2013