Mechatronics Design of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Military Applications

In this chapter the development of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) for task-oriented military applications is described. The instrumentation and software architecture of the vehicle platform, communication links, remote control station, and human-machine interface are presented along with observations from various field tests. Communication delay and usability tests are addressed as well. The research was conducted as a part of the FinUVS (Finnish Unmanned Vehicle Systems) technology program for the Finnish Defense Forces. The consortium responsible for this project included both industry and research institutions. Since the primary interest of the project was in the tactical utilization scenarios of the UGV and the available resources were relatively limited, the implementation of the vehicle control and navigation systems was tried to be kept as light and cost-effective as possible. The resources were focused on developing systems level solutions. The UGV was developed as a technology demonstrator using mainly affordable COTS components to perform as a platform for the conceptual testing of the UGV system with various types of payloads and missions. Therefore, the research methodology was rather experimental by nature, combining complex systems engineering and mechatronics design, trying to find feasible solutions. The ultimate goal of the research and development work was set to achieve high level of autonomy, i.e., to be able to realistically demonstrate capability potential of the system with the given mission. In this case, the test tasks were related to tactical reconnaissance and surveillance. The targeted end-result, task-oriented autonomous mission capability, means that the UGV is able to cope with the predefined tasks as autonomously as possible, requiring operator support only in demanding decision making and unexpected problem situations. The contribution of this research relies in the systems level solution that combines autonomous motion and task execution capabilities of the UGV, as well as scalable level of autonomy to support the UGV operator. Additional contribution consists of systems integration and information flow between the higher level command & control site and the UGV remote control station. So far, there have been relatively few attempts to combine all these ambitious features in realistic field environment tests, especially in a cost-effective approach. Along with the presented UGV demonstrator case (see Fig. 1), the chapter provides for an overlook to the essential research problems and presents solutions used in 15