An integrated AGV control system using preemptive and non-preemptive mixed RTOS

The automated guided vehicle (AGV) is currently used in a wide range of industries. The control system is the core of the AGV, responsible for task assignment, localization, path planning, motion planning, vehicle management, etc. In previous AGV implementations, personal computer, embedded computer, digital signal processor for computing, and programmable logic controller, micro control unit, field programmable gate array for control have been combined to form the whole control system. These solutions can solve common control problems, but they are complex to implement. To simplify the implementation complexity, the following work is presented in this study: (1) a new real-time operating system (RTOS), called Student RTOS, is developed. The RTOS includes memory management, task management, message queue, semaphore, synchronization, and timer, etc.; (2) a control system based on the newly designed RTOS is presented on a single processor; (3) the RTOS and the control system are tested on a newly designed AGV. From the actual test results, the newly designed RTOS and control system can meet the requirements of real-time, functionality, etc., and can effectively replace the original control system composed of multiple device combinations. In addition to running on the ARM Cortex-A processor used in the AGV control system, the RTOS also runs on the ARM Cortex-M and the STM8S (8-bit) processors for more low-end applications.