Control System Architecture for a Remotely Operated Unmanned Land Vehicle

The U.S. Army Laboratory Command, as part of its Robotics Initiative, is developing a testbed for cooperative, real-time control of unmanned land vehicles. The system requires the development and integration of many elements which allow the vehicles to perform both autonomous and teleoperated functions. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is supporting this program by developing the vehicle control system using an architecture based on the Realtime Control System (RCS). RCS is a hierarchical, sensory-based control system, initially developed for the control of industrial robots and automated manufacturing systems. In this application, RCS controls all vehicle mobility functions, coordinates the operations of the other subsystems on the vehicle, and communicates between the vehicle and the remote operator control station. This paper reviews the overall control system architecture and the design of the mobility and communication functions.