Abstract
Trace following and branch identification technology is the key technology for self-direction of vehicle, unmanned drive, trace robot and trace finder. In order to find trace quickly, this paper introduces a real-time method with a set of equidistant linear array sensor to detect relative cross state and absolute position between trace and tracker. Offset degree between trace and tracker can be directly determined by detecting absolute position of trace. While offset velocity can be calculated with least square method of regression analysis by detecting relative cross state. According to real-time offset degree and offset velocity between trace and tracker, corresponding control algorithm is adopted to realize automatic following. As arranging distance between sensing elements of array sensor directly affects tracking accuracy and reaction speed with this method, smaller dot array distance should be kept between sensing elements of array sensor if permitted, and is advantageous for real-time detection of trace.