The Impact of the Accuracy of Terrain Surface Data on the Navigation of Off-Road Vehicles

Abstract

Current soil and surface data are not detailed enough to obtain accurate analyses of cross-country movement. The reason for the research presented in this article was the absence of a methodology for the synthetic assessment of the influence of the terrain surface on the movement of military vehicles. The study is based on analyses of data and information sources of soils and surface conditions primarily with the aim to determine their reliability, availability and precision when used for analyses of terrain traversability by off-road vehicles. The key method to achieve the set objective is the employment of tractive charts of military vehicles and utilized coefficients, the coefficient of rolling resistance and the coefficient of adhesion. Input data and information is tested with a comparative method of cross-country movement analyses. Conversion of soil and surface types to tractive chart coefficients is currently not optimal. For the most part, evaluation of soil type is very inaccurate with a wide range of possible values. Results of the analysis propose developing a methodology of evaluating surface and soils for vehicle traversability.