Simulation-Based Acceptance Testing for Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Abstract

Acceptance testing is considered a final stage of validation, and performing physical acceptance tests of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) can be expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, this paper discusses simulation-based acceptance testing and failure analysis for UGVs, which can be potentially used as a complementary tool in the design of efficient physical acceptance tests for reducing the testing time and cost for UGV products. In this paper, both dynamic and static simulation models are developed. A systematic statistical testing approach is presented to quantitatively assess when a simple static simulation model can be used to approximate a complex dynamic simulation. The results from the simulations show that a static simulation model can be appropriately used for determining the required joint motor torques of UGVs under slow operation speeds. One additional benefit of using a static simulation model is that it can explicitly identify the safe operation boundaries for preventing UGVs from joint torque saturation and rollover failures, thus improving the UGVs? operational reliability. On the other hand, the paper also shows that a dynamic simulation model is indeed needed to determine the maximum allowable moving speeds for UGVs to be safely operated on roads with various levels of roughness and bumpiness.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 12, 2011
Accession Number
ADA549677

Entities

People

  • A. G. Ulsoy
  • Amir Sadrpour
  • Hyo J. Lee
  • Jionghua Jin

Organizations

  • University of Michigan

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acceptance Tests
  • Boundaries
  • Control Systems
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Failure Analysis
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Ground Vehicles
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Military Operations
  • Performance Tests
  • Reliability
  • Simulations
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Methods
  • Unmanned Ground Vehicles
  • Vehicles

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy