In this study, the dynamic response of a catenary system that supplies electrical power to high -speed trains is investigated. One of the important problems which is accompanied by increasing the speed of a high-speed rail, is the performance of stable current collection. Another problem which has been encountered, is maintaining continuous contact force between the catenary and the pantograph without loss of panhead. The dynamic analyses of the catenary based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) are performed to develop a pantograph suitable for high speed operation. The static deflection of the catenary, the stiffness variation in contact lines, the dynamic response of the catenary undergoing the force of a constantly moving load and the contact force were calculated. It was confirmed that a catenary model is necessary to study the dynamic characteristics of the pantograph system.

In this paper, a path generation algorithm that uses sensor scannings is described. A scanning algorithm for recognizing the ambient environment of the Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV) that uses the information from the sensor platform is proposed. An algorithm for computing the real path and obstacle length is developed by using a scanning method that controls rotating of the sensors on the platform. The AGV can recognize the given path by adopting this algorithm. As the AG V with two-wheel drive constitute a nonholonomic system, a linearized kinematic model is applied to the AGV motor control. An optimal controller is designed for tracking the reference path which is generated by recognizing the path pattern. Based on experimental results, the proposed algorithm that uses scanning with a sensor platform employing only a small number of sensors and a low cost controller for the AG V is shown to be adequate for path generation.