Crawler vehicle and control method to control said crawler vehicle

A method of operating a crawler vehicle comprising a frame, two wheel assemblies arranged on opposite sides of the frame, each wheel assembly comprising a drive wheel and a plurality of idle wheels, two tracks, each track arranged around a respective one of the two wheel assemblies, a suspension comprising at least two semi-active hydraulic dampers, wherein each semi-active hydraulic damper has a variable damping coefficient, is associated with one of the two wheel assemblies, and comprises a hydraulic cylinder that connects at least one of the idle wheels of the associated wheel assembly to the frame, and a control device configured to control each semi-active hydraulic damper, the method comprising:

• detecting an acceleration signal indicative of an acceleration of the frame in a direction substantially perpendicular to a travelling direction of the crawler vehicle;
• detecting a stroke signal indicative of a length of one of the hydraulic cylinders;
• and
• adjusting the variable damping coefficient of the semi-active hydraulic damper comprising the hydraulic cylinder based on the detected acceleration signal and the detected stroke signal.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a control device of a crawler vehicle comprising a frame, two wheel assemblies arranged on opposite sides of the frame, each wheel assembly comprising a drive wheel and a plurality of idle wheels, two tracks, each track arranged around a respective one of the two wheel assemblies, and a suspension comprising at least two semi-active hydraulic dampers, wherein each semi-active hydraulic damper has a variable damping coefficient, is associated with one of the two wheel assemblies, and comprises a hydraulic cylinder that connects at least one of the idle wheels of the associated wheel assembly to the frame, cause the control device to:

• detect an acceleration signal indicative of an acceleration of the frame in a direction substantially perpendicular to a travelling direction of the crawler vehicle;
• detect a stroke signal indicative of a length of one of the hydraulic cylinders;
• and
• adjust the variable damping coefficient of the semi-active hydraulic damper comprising the hydraulic cylinder based on the detected acceleration signal and the detected stroke signal.