A Torque Distribution Strategy for the Six-Wheeled Lunar Rover

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">As a crucial tool for lunar exploration, lunar rovers are highly susceptible to instability due to the rugged lunar terrain, making control of driving stability essential during operation. This study focuses on a six-wheel lunar rover and develops a torque distribution strategy to improve the handling stability of the lunar rover. Based on a layered control structure, firstly, the approach establishes a two-degree-of-freedom single-track model with front and rear axle steering at the state reference layer to compute the desired yaw rate and mass center sideslip angle. Secondly, in the desired torque decision layer, a sliding mode control-based strategy is used to calculate the desired total driving torque. Thirdly, in the torque distribution layer, the optimal control distribution is adopted to carry out two initial distributions and redistribution of the drive torque planned by the upper layer, to improve the yaw stability of the six-wheeled lunar rover. Finally, a multi-body dynamics simulation platform for the six-wheel lunar rover is built using the open-source multi-physics simulation engine Chrono, exploring its dynamic behavior in soft ground conditions. Various operating scenarios are tested to verify the effectiveness, reliability, and safety of the designed coordinated control strategy. This research provides a reference for the design and control strategies of lunar rovers in future lunar exploration missions and offers guidance for the design and motion control of extraterrestrial planetary surface exploration vehicles.</div></div>