Autonomous Control of an Underground Mining Vehicle

Abstract

This paper examines the kinematics and control of a Load Haul Dump Vehicle used in underground mining operations. The aim of the work is to develop an autonomous guidance strategy. A linear, state-space, mathematical model of the vehicle is derived purely from geometric consideration of the vehicle and its desired path. Autonomous regulation of the vehicle is shown to be theoretically feasible using state variable feedback of displacement, heading and curvature error. A relationship between stability and vehicle speed is derived. This expression forms the basis of an adaptive tuning strategy which optimises the vehicle’s dynamic response.