Powered wheelchair have developed to support a mobility to the elder and disabled. PC became a main controller to enable extended functions of powered wheelchair. Controller using PC has software architecture. Software architecture has to Operating System with Real-Time scheduler and multitasking. It can be Real-Time control, low latency and process sensor data on diverse physical principles.
We developed software architecture for Real-Time control of Powered Wheelchair and implemented based on Real-Time Linux with real-time scheduler, multitasking ability, low cost and usability all Linux application programs. We designed a hierarchical control structure for autonomous navigation of powered wheelchair in corridor. We decomposed and implemented processes - motor control process, sensing process for position estimation and navigation process. Real-Time kernel processes are trajectory following, laser range finder data processing, sonar sensing, localization from laser range finder and encoder, and navigation. Non Real-Time user processes are monitoring and frame grabbing program.
The results of experiments are described to show velocity and position control when given velocity and position set-point trajectory, and autonomous navigation in corridor through position estimation algorithm and laser measurement processing algorithm.
