Case Study: Rod Millen Special Vehicles achieves rapid, prototype-free UGV suspension development with MathWorks

Rod Millen Special Vehicles Develops Suspension System for Military Vehicle

Rod Millen Special Vehicles (RMSV) needed an active suspension and control system for a DARPA Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle (UGCV) that could survive an 8 m/s parachute airdrop, traverse a 0.25 m step at 20 km/hr, and climb a 1 m obstacle while operating inverted after rollovers—all on an aggressive delivery schedule. RMSV used MathWorks tools, including MATLAB, Simulink, Simscape Multibody, Simulink Coder, and Simulink Real‑Time, to model the six‑wheel, independently articulated suspension and develop the necessary control laws.

Using MathWorks products, RMSV modeled and simulated the full vehicle dynamics, optimized handling up to 40 km/hr, generated real‑time control code, and deployed it on onboard hardware—completing suspension development in weeks instead of months. MathWorks tools helped detect a minor manufacturing defect before production (saving several days of testing), eliminated the need for full vehicle prototypes, reduced development time, and produced validated vehicle performance in field tests at Sandia and Yuma.

Rod Millen Special Vehicles

Eric Anderfaas

Senior Scientist