By: Michael Bauer, Christopher Lawrence & Elizabeth Parriott
Adviser: Dr. Y. Wang
The goal of the 2013 New Jersey Autonomous Vehicle (NJAV) senior project is to design, construct, and test an unmanned vehicle to compete in the 21st Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGCV). In order to place competitively, the fully autonomous vehicle must be able to quickly and accurately locate a series of Global Positioning System (GPS) waypoints while navigating an outdoor obstacle course. The vehicle’s design has been broken down into three main areas: chassis, electronic systems, and algorithms. The chassis will house all the vehicle’s electronic components and be maneuverable over various outdoor terrains. The electronic systems will incorporate the following: laser range finder, GPS, webcam, compass, caution light, E-stop button, batteries, laptop, microcontroller, motor controller, and optical encoders. The vehicle will be controlled by navigation and path planning algorithms created using MATLAB and OpenCV. These algorithms will interpret data received from the vehicle’s various sensors and send commands to the vehicle so that it can efficiently traverse the course. Everything will be thoroughly tested prior to the competition to ensure all systems are integrated properly and the design adheres to the IGVC rules. A previous TCNJ autonomous vehicle is currently being used to test the integration of sensors and the performance of computer algorithms. The 2013 vehicle will be constructed during winter break and the electronics will be installed during the spring semester.