Patent ID: 7962263

Claim:
A method of nonlinear steering control of a work vehicle during an automated vehicle guidance operation as controlled by a digital control system, the work vehicle having a steering mechanism for control of a steering angle of at least one wheel comprising the steps of: determining an actual steering angle of the at least one wheel; defining a steering angle error as a function of a commanded steering angle and the actual steering angle; defining a tolerance control law to zero a steering mechanism command for use when the steering angle error is within a predetermined range around zero; defining a saturation control law to maximize the steering mechanism command for use when the steering angle error is outside a predetermined range; defining a dynamic control law including deadband compensation, proportional, integral and derivative control portions, and control signal limiting to produce the steering mechanism command when the steering angle error is within predetermined ranges; reducing influence of the integral control portion of the dynamic control law as a function of the steering angle error; and outputting the steering mechanism command to the steering mechanism to effect a steering movement to the vehicle.