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Forest Technology Academy Master Thesis School 2019

Forwarder with active damping pendulum arms.
In collaboration with KTH Royal Institute of Technology we are now announcing four master thesis projects for spring 2019. Applications by the 7th of December.

Remote control of forest machine

Remote controlled forest machines are one way to improve the working environment for the operators and a step towards fully autonomy machines. Your task is to design the remote-control system, where the operator is in a mobile office remotely controlling the machine. Based on a local network connection, you will interface directly with the CAN-system of a forest machine. A suggested solution is to use ROS-nodes with C++ or Python programming. The safety of the system should comply with relevant standards and fault handling. Research question is to measure and map the time delays in the remote-controlled system.

Forest site WiFi

Remote controlled forest machines are one way to improve the working environment for the operators and a step towards fully autonomy machines. A high bandwidth wireless connection between the operator station and the machine is crucial for such a system. New technology with local 5G may offer excellent performance but is still not commonly available. Your task here is to investigate what can be done using WiFi equipment. Your task is to establish a WiFi connection between a fix point and a moving machine on a forest site. A suggested solution is to use auto turning directional antennas. Research question is to evaluate stability, bandwidth and time delays for such a system in various forest conditions.

Optimal control of double articulated steering

Articulated steering is a robust and common steering method for large machines in forestry, construction and more. Double articulated steering is based on a machine frame divided into three parts with two steering joints. In forestry machines it is common to control the rate of steering rather than the steering position. For a double articulated steering this means that the controller must ensure correct rate of movement and correct positioning of each joint. Furthermore, the behavior of double steering joints at standstill must be handled differently. Your task is to design and evaluate a safe and correct steering for a double articulated forest machine prototype. You will use C-code to implement the controller on the embedded system of the machine. Research question is to evaluate positioning performance of double articulated steering with different control methods. 

 

Advance control method of the active damping in a pendulum arm forest machine

Individual vertical position control of each wheel in a forest machine has the potential of low ground impact and smoother movement of the machine. The positioning speed of the pendulum arms that hold the wheels is limiting the moving speed of the machine. Your task is to design and evaluate a control system for the pendulum arms. Today PI-controllers are implemented. A suggested solution is to use LQR. Simulink simulation environment is suggested and the control can be implemented the embedded controller of the prototype using C-code. Research question is to compare performance of different controllers and to identify the bottle necks in the physical machine. 

General Information for all projects

Number of students per project: One or two

Start date: January 2019 or in agreement

Duration: 20 weeks (30 ECTS credits)

Deadline for the application: 2019-12-07

Contacts:

Olle Gelin,018 - 188533,  olle.gelin@skogforsk.se 

Morgan Rossander, 018 - 188588, morgan.rossander@skogforsk.se 

12/3/2018 2:12 PM