Publication

Control of a dumper vehicle with a trailer using partial feedback linearization

Journal Article (2025)

Journal

Electronics

Pages

1-27

Volume

14

Number

11

Doc link

https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14112293

File

Download the digital copy of the doc pdf document

Authors

Abstract

The control of vehicles towing trailers is of significant interest to industry due to their wide-ranging applications across various sectors. Trailers play essential roles in logistics, mining, and other fields. This study focuses on the control of a dumper with a trailer specifically used for the monitoring of terrain stability in mining operations. The trailer is equipped with a radar system for detecting potential ground shifts that could jeopardize fieldwork safety. While numerous studies have addressed the control of Ackerman vehicles and trailers, this dumper presents a unique challenge due to its rear-axle steering mechanism. Due to this configuration, which has not been extensively studied in the literature, although the differential flatness of the system is proven, computation of the flat outputs leads to a system of partial differential equations that cannot be solved analytically. For this reason, this paper examines partial feedback linearization to facilitate control and proposes a solution for trajectory tracking that also stabilizes jack-knifing tendencies between the vehicle and trailer. The designed control system was successfully validated in a virtual environment.

Categories

control theory.

Author keywords

autonomous vehicle; feedback linearization; jack-knifing

Scientific reference

J. Franch, J. Rodriguez-Fortun and R. Herguedas. Control of a dumper vehicle with a trailer using partial feedback linearization. Electronics, 14(11): 1-27, 2025.