The idea for this project originated from the Satellite Navigation and Positioning Group, who require a system that could be used as a research platform, for student experiments and for demonstrations of navigational technologies. The initial requirement was for a system to allow remote control and positioning of an electric vehicle using carrier phase-based GPS-RTK.

The project was a Capstone Project (final year undergraduate BE thesis) undertaken by Benjamin Meldrum from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) during the second half of 1999. Dr. Craig Scott and Professor Chris Drane (Computer Systems Engineering, UTS), and Professor Chris Rizos and Dr. Shaowei Han (School of Surveying & Spatial Information Systems, UNSW) were his supervisors.

The aim of the project was to produce a system which enables the vehicle's movement to be controlled -- either by onboard systems, or remotely controlled by a base computer -- using navigation technologies such as GPS-RTK, GPS+INS, and so on.

Phase 1 of the project was to design and build the electric vehicle (the 'Rover') to be remotely controlled, to design and build the Base Station to interpret the position and trajectory information, and provide basic control software to remotely control this vehicle. This has been achieved after substantial design work, construction of electronics and mechanical components, and preparation of comprehensive documentation.

The Rover vehicle is an adapted, commercially available vehicle manufactured by Solar Mobility. The Walkabout 400 electric scooter uses 4 pneumatic tyres, and is designed to carry a person (payload 100kg) with a maximum speed of16km/h. There are no seats or handlebars, and extra batteries and a digital motor controller were added. The mechanical subsystem consisted of electric motors, gears, tyres, and steering. The electrical subsystem consisted of 3 batteries, 2 chargers, power distribution, etc. The communications subsystem comprised VHF radio, UHF radio, antennas, mounts & feeders. Positioning was provided by a carrier phase-based GPS-RTK system from NovAtel, antenna & mount, and PCMCIA RS232. Control is via a laptop PC, parallel port interface, steering controller, fluxgate compass, angle sensor, and proximity sensor. Other devices included interfacing electronics, strobe lights, and emergency stop switches.

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Ms. Elspeth Hurley, also undertaking a Capstone Project at UTS in 2001, has completed the first generation control software.

Subsequently, in 2002, further development work was undertaken by UNSW EE final year students, as part of their thesis project.