The motions of planar tracked vehicles are governed by three force and moment equations.
The force equation perpendicular to the tracks represents a dynamic nonholonomic
constraint which is explicitly dependent on vehicle speed. It couples path planning with
trajectory planning. The nominal track forces required to follow a specified data at desired
speeds are determined. The problem is reduced to computing vehicle orientations along the
path that are consistent with the nonholonomic constraint. The computation of vehicle …

This paper presents a method for computing the track forces and track speeds of planar
tracked vehicles, required to follow a given path at specified speeds on horizontal and
inclined planes. It is shown that the motions of a planar tracked vehicle are constrained by a
velocity dependent nonholonomic constraint, derived from the force equation perpendicular
to the tracks. This reduces the trajectory planning problem to determining the slip angle
between the vehicle and the path tangent that satisfies the nonholonomic constraint along …