Path tracking and stabilization for a reversing general 2-trailer configuration using a cascaded control approach

TL;DR

This paper presents a cascaded control approach for stabilizing and tracking paths of a complex 2-trailer vehicle with off-axle hitching, combining low-level LQ control with high-level pure pursuit, demonstrated in simulations and real tests.

Contribution

It introduces a novel cascaded control framework that handles general 2-trailer configurations with off-axle hitching, enabling flexible path planning and robust stabilization.

Findings

Effective path tracking in complex trailer configurations

Successful implementation in simulation and real-world tests

User-friendly GUI for designing control references

Abstract

In this paper a cascaded approach for stabilization and path tracking of a general 2-trailer vehicle configuration with an off-axle hitching is presented. A low level Linear Quadratic controller is used for stabilization of the internal angles while a pure pursuit path tracking controller is used on a higher level to handle the path tracking. Piecewise linearity is the only requirement on the control reference which makes the design of reference paths very general. A Graphical User Interface is designed to make it easy for a user to design control references for complex manoeuvres given some representation of the surroundings. The approach is demonstrated with challenging path following scenarios both in simulation and on a small scale test platform.