Traditionally, terrain profilers have been evaluated based on their ability to reproduce measurements made from some
reference device (e.g., a rod and level). The measurement error inherent in these reference measurements has become
significant as terrain profilers have become more accurate. The fundamental technical challenge in the design of terrain
profilers is the removal of vehicle body motion from the height sensor measurement. The objective of this work is to
develop design criteria for an excitation event that will quantitatively highlight the abilities and inadequacies of terrain
profilers by testing the profilers under adverse measurement conditions. The design of a characteristic excitation event
must fulfill two requirements. First, the event should excite the terrain profiler chassis at its primary ride and wheel-hop
frequencies. Using these first two ride frequencies and the suspension damping ratio, relationships are developed that
relate these parameters to the geometric excitation event dimensions. The terrain profiler's test velocity is also
determined based on these frequencies. Second, the excitation event should be simple, light, inexpensive, and
reproducible to ensure that it is used. The result of this work is an excitation event that insures that the terrain profiler
will be excited to its highest attainable amplitude (near resonance). This excitation event provides the first step in
developing an accuracy test for modern terrain profilers.
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