PROPOSAL FOR A TRANSPORTATION PATTERN

摘要

When one thinks of transportation, it is usually only the means of transportation which comes to mind. Actually, transportation problems involve not only the vehicles, but also the routes, organization of services, and so forth. These sectors, seemingly quite diverse from one another, have many points in common due to, if nothing else, their mutual endpoint - transportation. Off-the-road locomotion, even if a highly specialized branch, is actually a part of transportation and should be treated in this context. In recent years, investigators of off-the-road locomotion have greatly expanded the knowledge of the sector with quite thorough theoretical and experimental research and with practical projects of great importance, such as the lunar vehicle. These researchers have reached considerable goals in individual studies, especially those concerned with the mechanics of locomotion, the planning of technical solutions and the optimalization of projects involving particular mechanical devices. Now, further development of research is possible by putting the subject of off-the-road locomotion in a wider, more encompassing framework. Already some years ago Bekker (1) gave off-the-road locomotion a formulation based on the theory of systems, while an analogous approach, more specifically for the territorial planning of transport, was being synthesized by Thomas and Schofer (2).