Dual Closed-Loop Trajectory Tracking Control of Air-Ground Amphibious Unmanned Platform in Off-Road Terrain

Air-ground amphibious robots are becoming the focus of research in the field of robotics, and trajectory tracking control has always been a research hotspot in the field of robotics. Due to the fact that air-ground amphibious unmanned platform often operates in off-road terrain where the roads are non-structured, with high unevenness and strong external interference, it is necessary to study trajectory tracking issues in off-road terrain. This paper proposes a dual closed-loop trajectory tracking controller based on the kinematic model of a tracked robot for addressing the insufficient steering issue during trajectory tracking in off-road terrain for air-ground amphibious unmanned platforms. Based on the preview information, the outer loop uses the model predictive control algorithm to solve the ideal value of combined speed and differential speed of tracks on both sides. For the problem of insufficient steering of the platform in a complex environment, the PID method is used to design the feedback control rate to compensate for insufficient steering. The dual closed-loop controller ensures the optimal control of the platform. Finally, the effectiveness of the dual closed-loop control structure is verified by Matlab / Simulink simulation.