Chinese Journal OF Rice Science >
Design and Validation of an Assisted Steering System for Wheeled Tractor Path Tracking in Field Operations
Received date: 2025-06-09
Revised date: 2025-09-16
Online published: 2026-07-15
【Objective】Field operations in rice cultivation, such as dry direct seeding and transplanting, require higher path tracking accuracy of agricultural machinery. To meet the requirements for operational consistency and uniform crop distribution in rice production, we designed an assisted steering control system for wheeled tractors, aiming to assist human operators in achieving precise path tracking during rice field operations.【Method】First, we constructed a driver steering model using data from driving simulator tests, and combined it with the kinematic model of wheeled tractors to develop an integrated vehicle control model that incorporates the driver-in-the-loop. Then, we used a polytopic linear parameter varying system to describe the uncertainties in the model, including time-varying driver model parameters and vehicle speed. Based on this model, an output feedback robust controller was designed to ensure robust stability of the system under uncertainties described by polyhedral sets. Additionally, a region pole placement method was employed to improve the transient response performance of the system. Finally, driver-in-the-loop tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the designed controller.【Result】The results show that this method effectively enhances the path tracking performance of wheeled tractors while alleviating the physical and mental burdens on the operator. In single lane-change maneuvers and complex serpentine driving conditions, the maximum lateral tracking error is reduced by 66.7% and 55.6% compared with that of the PID control algorithm, respectively, while the physical workload of the driver was reduced by 26.86% and 37.6%, and the mental workload was reduced by 4.2% and 31.3%, respectively.【Conclusion】The proposed control strategy offers a technical foundation for enhancing the operational quality of rice and other crop fieldwork.
LIANG Jinxiong , FENG Yanyi , XIAO Maohua , WANG Faan , SHEN Cheng , XU Wenxiang , MENG Weiguo . Design and Validation of an Assisted Steering System for Wheeled Tractor Path Tracking in Field Operations[J]. Chinese Journal OF Rice Science, 2026 , 40(4) : 548 -559 . DOI: 10.16819/j.1001-7216.2026.250603
| [1] | 胡静涛, 高雷, 白晓平, 李逃昌, 刘晓光. 农业机械自动导航技术研究进展[J]. 农业工程学报, 2015, 31 (10): 1-10. |
| Hu J T, Gao L, Bai X P, Li T C, Liu X G. Review of research on automatic guidance of agricultural vehicles[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 2015, 31(10): 1-10. (in Chinese with English abstract) | |
| [2] | 张闻宇, 丁幼春, 王雪玲, 张幸, 蔡翔, 廖庆喜. 基于SVR逆向模型的拖拉机导航纯追踪控制方法[J]. 农业机械学报, 2016, 47(1): 29-36. |
| Zhang W Y, Ding Y C, Wang X L, Zhang X, Cai X, Liao Q X. Pure pursuit control method based on SVR inverse-model for tractor navigation[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery, 2016, 47(1): 29-36. (in Chinese) | |
| [3] | 李革, 王宇, 郭刘粉, 童俊华, 何勇. 插秧机导航路径跟踪改进纯追踪算法[J]. 农业机械学报, 2018, 49(5): 21-26. |
| Li G, Wang Y, Guo L F, Tong J H, He Y. Improved pure pursuit algorithm for rice transplanter path tracking[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery, 2018, 49(5): 21-26. (in Chinese with English abstract) | |
| [4] | 何杰, 朱金光, 张智刚, 罗锡文, 高阳, 胡炼. 水稻插秧机自动作业系统设计与试验[J]. 农业机械学报, 2019, 50(3): 17-24. |
| He J, Zhu J G, Zhang Z G, Luo X W, Gao Y, Hu L. Design and experiment of automatic operation system for rice transplanter[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery, 2019, 50(3): 17-24. (in Chinese with English abstract) | |
| [5] | 史扬杰, 程馨慧, 奚小波, 单翔, 金亦富, 张瑞宏. 农业机械导航路径跟踪控制方法研究进展[J]. 农业工程学报, 2023, 39(15): 1-14. |
| Shi Y J, Cheng X H, Xi X B, Shan X, Jin Y F, Zhang R H. Research progress on the path tracking control methods for agricultural machinery navigation[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 2023, 39(15): 1-14. (in Chinese with English abstract) | |
| [6] | 伍龙梅, 张悦, 刘妍, 邹积祥, 杨陶陶, 包晓哲, 黄庆, 陈青春, 蒋耀智, 梁巧丽, 张彬. 直播稻研究进展及发展对策分析[J]. 中国农学通报, 2023, 39(6): 1-5. |
| Wu L M, Zhang Y, Liu Y, Zou J X, Yang T T, Bao X Z, Huang Q, Chen Q C, Jiang Y Z, Liang Q L, Zhang B. Direct seeding rice: Research progress and development strategy[J]. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 2023, 39(6): 1-5. (in Chinese with English abstract) | |
| [7] | Reid J F, Zhang Q, Noguchi N, Dickson M. Agricultural automatic guidance research in North America[J]. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2000, 25(1/2): 155-167. |
| [8] | Bevly D M, Gerdes J C, Parkinson B W. A new yaw dynamic model for improved high speed control of a farm tractor[J]. Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, 2002, 124(4): 659-667. |
| [9] | Wang Q, He J, Lu C, Wang C, Lin H, Yang H, Li H, Wu Z. Modelling and control methods in path tracking control for autonomous agricultural vehicles: A review of state of the art and challenges[J]. Applied Sciences, 2023, 13(12): 7155. |
| [10] | Hiremath S, van Evert F K, ter Braak C, Stein A, van der Heijden G. Image-based particle filtering for navigation in a semi-structured agricultural environment[J]. Biosystems Engineering, 2014, 121: 85-95. |
| [11] | O’Connor M L. Carrier-phase differential GPS for automatic control of land vehicles. Stanford: Stanford University, 1997. |
| [12] | Zhou B, Su X, Yu H, Guo W, Zhang Q. Research on path tracking of articulated steering tractor based on modified model predictive control[J]. Agriculture, 2023, 13(4): 871. |
| [13] | 白晓平, 胡静涛, 高雷, 李逃昌, 刘晓光. 农机导航自校正模型控制方法研究[J]. 农业机械学报, 2015, 46(2): 1-7. |
| Bai X P, Hu J T, Gao L, Li T C, Liu X G. Self-tuning model control method for farm machine navigation[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society for Agricultural Machinery, 2015, 46(2): 1-7. (in Chinese with English abstract) | |
| [14] | Backman J, Oksanen T, Visala A. Navigation system for agricultural machines: Nonlinear Model Predictive path tracking[J]. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2012, 82: 32-43. |
| [15] | Nørremark M, Griepentrog H W, Nielsen J, Søgaard H T. The development and assessment of the accuracy of an autonomous GPS-based system for intra-row mechanical weed control in row crops[J]. Biosystems Engineering, 2008, 101(4): 396-410. |
| [16] | Kannan P, Natarajan S K, Dash S S. Design and implementation of fuzzy logic controller for online computer controlled steering system for navigation of a teleoperated agricultural vehicle[J]. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2013, 2013: 590861. |
| [17] | 王辉, 王桂民, 罗锡文, 张智刚, 高阳, 何杰, 岳斌斌. 基于预瞄追踪模型的农机导航路径跟踪控制方法[J]. 农业工程学报, 2019, 35(4): 11-19. |
| Wang H, Wang G M, Luo X W, Zhang Z G, Gao Y, He J, Yue B B. Path tracking control method of agricultural machine navigation based on aiming pursuit model[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 2019, 35(4): 11-19. (in Chinese with English abstract) | |
| [18] | Li P, Nguyen A T, Du H, Wang Y, Zhang H. Polytopic LPV approaches for intelligent automotive systems: State of the art and future challenges[J]. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 2021, 161: 107931. |
| [19] | Guo J, Luo Y, Li K. Robust gain-scheduling automatic steering control of unmanned ground vehicles under velocity-varying motion[J]. Vehicle System Dynamics, 2019, 57(4): 595-616. |
| [20] | Nguyen A T, Sentouh C, Zhang H, Popieul J C. Fuzzy static output feedback control for path following of autonomous vehicles with transient performance improvements[J]. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2020, 21(7): 3069-3079. |
| [21] | Liang J, Yin G, Li G. Robust H∞ output-feedback vehicle yaw control using an active front wheel steering[C]// 2018 37th Chinese Control Conference (CCC). July 25-27, 2018. Wuhan:IEEE, 2018: 7760-7764. |
| [22] | Zhang H, Wang J. Vehicle lateral dynamics control through AFS/DYC and robust gain-scheduling approach[J]. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 2016, 65(1): 489-494. |
| [23] | Jin X, Yu Z, Yin G, Wang J. Improving vehicle handling stability based on combined AFS and DYC system via robust Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy control[J]. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2018, 19(8): 2696-2707. |
| [24] | Chen Y, Zhang X, Wang J. Robust vehicle driver assistance control for handover scenarios considering driving performances[J]. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, 2021, 51(7): 4160-4170. |
| [25] | Nguyen A T, Sentouh C, Popieul J C. Driver-automation cooperative approach for shared steering control under multiple system constraints: Design and experiments[J]. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 2017, 64(5): 3819-3830. |
| [26] | Guo K. Driver-vehicle closed-loop simulation of handling by “preview optimal curvature method”. Automobile Engineering, 1984, 6: 1-16. |
| [27] | Liang J, Lu Y, Feng J, Yin G, Zhuang W, Wu J, Xu L, Wang F. Robust shared control system for aggressive driving based on cooperative modes identification[J]. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, 2023, 53(11): 6672-6684. |
| [28] | Zhang H, Zhang X, Wang J. Robust gain-scheduling energy-to-peak control of vehicle lateral dynamics stabilisation[J]. Vehicle System Dynamics, 2014, 52(3): 309-340. |
| [29] | Liang J, Feng J, Lu Y, Yin G, Zhuang W, Mao X. A direct yaw moment control framework through robust T-S fuzzy approach considering vehicle stability margin[J]. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2024, 29(1): 166-178. |
| [30] | Zhang K, Jiang B, Staroswiecki M. Dynamic output feedback-fault tolerant controller design for Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems with actuator faults[J]. IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 2010, 18(1): 194-201. |
/
| 〈 |
|
〉 |