Precision Sensor for Vehicle Guidance

Russell J. Lefevre, John C. Kirk Jr., and E. Craig Thompson

Abstract:	A radar system has been developed which can provide measurement of the terrain height ahead of a vehicle to an accuracy of 2.5 cm at ranges of from 3 to 9 meters. The radar sensor was originally designed to position a plow mounted on a reinforced tank chassis for the purpose of clearing a mine field. The technology employed was adapted from antenna elevation beam monopulse techniques used in airborne terrain following/terrain avoidance, air-to- ground ranging and three dimensional synthetic array radar mapping modes. Commercial applications of this technology include header control of harvest machinery for crops such as dry edible beans, road construction/repair and ride control for off-road vehicles. The development program had the primary objective of demonstrating the ability of a radar sensor to achieve the very challenging accuracy requirement. A secondary objective was to achieve this accuracy in the presence of substantial foliage. This had the effect of limiting the frequency regime to be investigatedThe conclusion reached is that a radar sensor is capable of obtaining very precise terrain height measurements. This will translate to new methods for guiding and controlling a variety of commercial vehicles.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 50th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1994) June 6 - 8, 1994 Antlers Doubletree Hotel Colorado Springs, CO
Pages:	441 - 447
Cite this article:	Lefevre, Russell J., Kirk, John C., Jr., Thompson, E. Craig, "Precision Sensor for Vehicle Guidance," Proceedings of the 50th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1994), Colorado Springs, CO, June 1994, pp. 441-447.
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