Term of Award

Spring 2017

Degree Name

Master of Science in Applied Engineering (M.S.A.E.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair

Valentin Soloiu

Committee Member 1

Biswanath Samanta

Committee Member 2

Rocio Alba-Flores

Abstract

Intelligent Vehicles (IVs) present an emerging sector of automotive technology development. This study explores a specific subset of IV control logic known as path following. Complex environments, such as roadway intersections, present a significant challenge to autonomous navigation, due to the many non-standard permutations. This research sought to quantify the accuracy with which an IV could follow a set path, through a complex environment, without the aid of environmental sensors. This required the vehicle to utilize only onboard telemetry sensors to determine its relative global location in free space, and subsequently execute a move through it. The results validated the hypothesis, that an IV could follow a path, as described, with reasonable accuracy, for short distances. The vehicle navigated a 1:4.5 scale version of a complex intersection in Statesboro, GA, while maintaining effective lane tracking through four permutations of turns from the main avenue. This was accomplished by using a reverse kinematic telemetry sensor fusion approach, which leveraged the relative strengths and weaknesses of real-time processing, inertial measurement, and individual wheel speed.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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