Force Feedback Control System for a Virtual Tank Driving Simulator

Abstract

The virtual force feedback system has not been implemented in most tank driving simulators which provide less realistic and less effectiveness of army personnel training. M60A3 tanks have been a prevalent tank for many decades but the information of military tanks was mystery, and has rarely been presented or published. Force exerted by a driver to the driving mechanism of a tank vehicle could be varied due to model uncertainty. The dynamics of a mechanical mechanism, which combines the rotational motion, static friction, sliding friction, and fluid friction, is considered. This paper presented the systematic technique to collect the force information and design force feedback system for a virtual tank driving simulator. Force measurements were applied for collecting the force exerted by drivers on the gas pedal, the brake pedal, and the handlebar of the tank. The force data is the reference data for designing the virtual tank driving simulator. The tank's driving mechanisms with force feedback systems, those are a brake pedal, a gas pedal and a handlebar, were developed. The force sensors were used as feedback signals to control industrial servo motors to generate resistance forces as the original M60A3 tank. Vehicle dynamic model was implemented to the virtual driving simulator as vehicle system integration as Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL). The force feedback control system generated the maximum force as 214.06 N. and 466.78 N. on gas pedal, and brake pedal, respectively as the actual M60A3 tank which the errors are less than 3%.