Adaptive differential steering strategy for distributed driving unmanned ground vehicle with variable configurations based on modified localized modelling sliding mode control

When performing complex tasks such as position transfer and material transportation, the distributed driving unmanned platform with variable configurations needs to address the challenge of multi-wheel cooperative torque distribution control to achieve high-performance differential steering and enhance vehicle dynamics. The configuration change will impact the dynamic performance of the unmanned platform, posing a challenge to the performance of the existing control strategy based on mathematical model development. In order to address the aforementioned issues, this paper analyzes the impact of changes in vehicle configuration on steering gain and proposes a hierarchical adaptive differential steering strategy based on variable vehicle configurations. Firstly, the response characteristics of the yaw angle relative to the active yaw moment under the influence of changes in wheelbase and tread are analyzed. Based on this analysis, two structural modes, maneuverable and balanced, are selected. Secondly, a localized-modelling sliding mode control method with an extended state observer is proposed to estimate the desired yaw moment in the upper controller, considering the motor's execution delay. Then, the lower controller optimizes the torque of each wheel in real-time using the whale optimization algorithm. It aims to optimize tire energy dissipation and tire load rate while ensuring driving stability and achieving differential steering. Finally, through co-simulation and experiments on a scaled prototype, the reliability of the dynamics theory and the superiority of the control algorithm are validated. This optimization has led to significant improvements in the tire dissipation energy index and tire load rate index. •An adaptive differential steering control strategy is proposed for the UGV with variable configurations.•The localized-modelling sliding mode control with extended state observer is proposed to obtain the desired yaw moment.•The vertical tire load and slip energy are optimized.•The proposed strategy is validated by co-simulation and experiment results.