Effects of Model Complexity on the Performance of Automated Vehicle Steering Controllers: Controller Development and Evaluation

SUMMARY

Due to increased traffic congestion and travel times, research in Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS) has focused on automated lateral and headway control. Automated vehicles are seen as a way to increase freeway capacity and vehicle speeds while reducing accidents due to human error. Recent research in automated lateral control has focused on vehicle control during low-g maneuvers. To increase safety, automated lateral controllers will need to recognize and react to emergency situations.

This paper investigates the effects of vehicle and tire model order on the response of automated vehicles to an emergency step lane change using a controller based on linear vehicle and tire models. From these studies it is concluded that control strategies based solely on linear vehicle and tire models are inadequate for emergency vehicle maneuvers.

A strategy is then proposed to automatically control vehicles through emergency maneuvers. Here the response of a nonlinear vehicle model is used with a linear state model to optimize controller gains for nonlinear maneuvers. An emergency step lane change is used as a preliminary test of the method.     

智能汽车对无信号交叉口行人的避撞控制

针对智能汽车在无信号交叉口对横穿行人的避撞问题,研究了主动转向避撞控制策略.基于多层模型预测控制方法,采用分层控制策略设计局部规划层控制器与全局跟踪层控制器,在此基础上根据交叉口处汽车与行人的轨迹特征计算人车碰撞剩余时间,改进传统人工势场法构造避撞函数,规划出既能规避交叉口内存在碰撞风险的行人又能使偏差最小的局部避撞路...     

Nonlinear robust control of integrated vehicle dynamics

A new methodology to design the vehicle GCC (global chassis control) nonlinear controller is developed in this paper. Firstly, to handle the nonlinear coupling between sprung and unsprung masses, the vehicle is treated as a mechanical system of two-rigid-bodies which has 6 DOF (degree of freedom), including longitudinal, lateral, yaw, vertical, roll and pitch dynamics. The system equation is built in the yaw frame based on Lagrange's method, and it has been proved that the derived system remains the important physical properties of the general mechanical system. Then the GCC design problem is formulated as the trajectory tracking problem for a cascade system, with a Lagrange's system interconnecting with a linear system. The nonlinear robust control design problem of this cascade interconnected system is divided into two H _∞ control problems with respect to the two sub-systems. The parameter uncertainties in the system are tackled by adaptive theory, while the external uncertainties and disturbances are dealt with the H _∞ control theory. And the passivity of the mechanical system is applied to construct the solution of nonlinear H _∞ control problem. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed controller is validated by simulation results even during the emergency manoeuvre.     

Predictive control of a vehicle trajectory using a coupled vector with vehicle velocity and sideslip angle

In this paper, a predictive algorithm for vehicle trajectory control using the vehicle velocity and sideslip angle is proposed. Since the driving state of a vehicle generates nonholonomic constraint equations, it is difficult to control the trajectory with a conventional control algorithm. Furthermore, control vectors such as vehicle velocity and sideslip angle are coupled together; hence, a separate control for each variable is not suitable. In this study, a coupled control vector that combines the velocity and sideslip angle is proposed for the predictive control of vehicle trajectory. Since the coupled control vector is derived from the status of the vehicle’s motion, it is easy to generate a feedback control vector for the predictive controller. The coupled vector cannot be directly used as input to the vehicle systems; therefore, the vehicle input vector should be calculated from the control vector using a nonlinear function. Since nonlinear functions are not inserted in the control loop, they are calculated by the controller. Therefore, this method does not require a linearization process in the control logic, which enhances the stability and accuracy of the predictive controller.     

Design and hardware-in-loop implementation of collision avoidance algorithms for heavy commercial road vehicles

An important aspect from the perspective of operational safety of heavy road vehicles is the detection and avoidance of collisions, particularly at high speeds. The development of a collision avoidance system is the overall focus of the research presented in this paper. The collision avoidance algorithm was developed using a sliding mode controller (SMC) and compared to one developed using linear full state feedback in terms of performance and controller effort. Important dynamic characteristics such as load transfer during braking, tyre-road interaction, dynamic brake force distribution and pneumatic brake system response were considered. The effect of aerodynamic drag on the controller performance was also studied. The developed control algorithms have been implemented on a Hardware-in-Loop experimental set-up equipped with the vehicle dynamic simulation software, IPG/TruckMaker®. The evaluation has been performed for realistic traffic scenarios with different loading and road conditions. The Hardware-in-Loop experimental results showed that the SMC and full state feedback controller were able to prevent the collision. However, when the discrepancies in the form of parametric variations were included, the SMC provided better results in terms of reduced stopping distance and lower controller effort compared to the full state feedback controller.     

Automated Emergency Four-Wheel-Steered Vehicle Using Continuous Gain Equations

Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS), when realized, should substantially increase the convenience and safety of highway travel. Automated lateral control is an important step in the realization of AVCS. Much research has been concerned with lateral control during low-g maneuvers. However, before passengers' lives are in the hands of any automated laterally-controlled vehicle, the vehicle controller must be designed to respond to emergency situations where high-g maneuvers may be necessary.

This paper presents the development of a nonlinear-gain-optimized (NGO) controller for emergency automated lateral control of four wheel steered automobiles. Continuous gain equations (GE) are used to account for changes in the vehicle speed. The NGO controller uses a linear vehicle/tire model to define the state model. The response of a nonlinear vehicle/tire model is used to choose the performance index that optimizes the feedback gains for high-g emergency maneuvers at discrete speeds. Continuous gain equations are then derived as least-square approximations to each set of gains.

The performance of the four-wheel-steer continuous gain equations (4WS-GE) controller is compared to that of a two-wheel-steer continuous gain equations (2WS-GE) controller. Significant improvements in vehicle response are realized by using the 4WS-GE controller. The robustness of the controller's performance is examined with respect to changes in tire parameters and changes in vehicle mass.     

Robust control and actuator dynamics compensation for railway vehicles

A robust controller is designed for active steering of a high speed train bogie with solid axle wheel sets to reduce track irregularity effects on the vehicle’s dynamics and improve stability and curving performance. A half-car railway vehicle model with seven degrees of freedom equipped with practical accelerometers and angular velocity sensors is considered for the H_∞ control design. The controller is robust against the wheel/rail contact parameter variations. Field measurement data are used as the track irregularities in simulations. The control force is applied to the vehicle model via ball-screw electromechanical actuators. To compensate the actuator dynamics, the time delay is identified online and is used in a second-order polynomial extrapolation carried out to predict and modify the control command to the actuator. The performance of the proposed controller and actuator dynamics compensation technique are examined on a one-car railway vehicle model with realistic structural parameters and nonlinear wheel and rail profiles. The results showed that for the case of nonlinear wheel and rail profiles significant improvements in the active control performance can be achieved using the proposed compensation technique.     

电控液压助力转向系统控制器的开发

针对传统液压助力转向系统存在的助力特性单一的缺点，增加了旁通油路，并设计了控制器，构成了助力特性可变的电控液压助力系统。通过控制步进电机带动的泄流旁通阀，改变了系统在不同车速工况下的助力特性。主要对控制器电路进行了详细设计，实现了步进电机的细分驱动控制，能根据车速的不同调节系统液压油流量。最后通过试验验证了控制器的性能。     

The effect of wheel set gyroscopic action on the hunting stability of high-speed trains

This study explores the effects of wheel set gyroscopic action on hunting stability by calculating linear and nonlinear critical speeds. First, a dynamic model for a high-speed vehicle with 23 degrees of freedom is developed by considering wheel set gyroscopic action. The linear and nonlinear critical speeds are calculated by eigenvalue analysis and drawing a bifurcation map, respectively. Two computer programs for linear and nonlinear stability analysis are developed. Second, based on an actual high-speed vehicle in China, the effects of wheel set gyroscopic action on hunting stability are quantitatively investigated using computer simulation. Furthermore, the difference between the effects of gyroscopic moments about the x-axis and z-axis is discussed. The results show that the moment about the x-axis is harmful to hunting stability, but the moment about the z-axis is beneficial to hunting stability. However, the integrated effect of these two moments can enhance the critical speeds and suppress the hunting motion.     

A vehicle stability control strategy with adaptive neural network sliding mode theory based on system uncertainty approximation

Modelling uncertainty, parameter variation and unknown external disturbance are the major concerns in the development of an advanced controller for vehicle stability at the limits of handling. Sliding mode control (SMC) method has proved to be robust against parameter variation and unknown external disturbance with satisfactory tracking performance. But modelling uncertainty, such as errors caused in model simplification, is inevitable in model-based controller design, resulting in lowered control quality. The adaptive radial basis function network (ARBFN) can effectively improve the control performance against large system uncertainty by learning to approximate arbitrary nonlinear functions and ensure the global asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system. In this paper, a novel vehicle dynamics stability control strategy is proposed using the adaptive radial basis function network sliding mode control (ARBFN-SMC) to learn system uncertainty and eliminate its adverse effects. This strategy adopts a hierarchical control structure which consists of reference model layer, yaw moment control layer, braking torque allocation layer and executive layer. Co-simulation using MATLAB/Simulink and AMESim is conducted on a verified 15-DOF nonlinear vehicle system model with the integrated-electro-hydraulic brake system (I-EHB) actuator in a Sine With Dwell manoeuvre. The simulation results show that ARBFN-SMC scheme exhibits superior stability and tracking performance in different running conditions compared with SMC scheme.     

Model-independent self-tuning fault-tolerant control method for 4WID EV

To solve the problem of the existing fault-tolerant control system of four-wheel independent drive (4WID) electric vehicles (EV), which relies on fault diagnosis information and has limited response to failure modes, a modelindependent self-tuning fault-tolerant control method is proposed. The method applies model-independent adaptive control theory for the self-tuning active fault-tolerant control of a vehicle system. With the nonlinear properties of the adaptive control, the complex and nonlinear issues of a vehicle system model can be solved. Besides, using the online parameter identification properties, the requirement of accurate diagnosis information is relaxed. No detailed model is required for the controller, thereby simplifying the development of the controller. The system robustness is improved by the error based method, and the error convergence and input-output bounds are proved via stability analysis. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed fault-tolerant control method can improve the vehicle safety and enhance the longitudinal and lateral tracking ability under different failure conditions.     

Cooperative lateral vehicle control for autonomous valet parking

This paper presents a lateral vehicle control algorithm for autonomous valet parking (AVP). Under the assumption that the position and heading angle are provided via vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, the lateral controller aims to conduct two different driving maneuvers, i.e., forward driving and backward parking, and to control various types of vehicles in a unified approach. Therefore, it is necessary for the lateral controller to be robust enough to track the desired trajectories for different driving maneuvers, as well as to compensate for the uncertainty caused by the need to consider various vehicle types. With the assumption of operating conditions such as a low speed and small slip angle, a nonlinear kinematic model with kinematic constraints is used for the design of the lateral control. Based on this nonlinear model, a nonlinear control technique called dynamic surface control (DSC) is applied to design the lateral controller, and its stability is analyzed in the framework of linear differential inclusion. Finally, the proposed lateral control algorithm is validated through vehicle simulations and field tests.     

Design of a feedback-feedforward steering controller for accurate path tracking and stability at the limits of handling

This paper presents a feedback-feedforward steering controller that simultaneously maintains vehicle stability at the limits of handling while minimising lateral path tracking deviation. The design begins by considering the performance of a baseline controller with a lookahead feedback scheme and a feedforward algorithm based on a nonlinear vehicle handling diagram. While this initial design exhibits desirable stability properties at the limits of handling, the steady-state path deviation increases significantly at highway speeds. Results from both linear and nonlinear analyses indicate that lateral path tracking deviations are minimised when vehicle sideslip is held tangent to the desired path at all times. Analytical results show that directly incorporating this sideslip tangency condition into the steering feedback dramatically improves lateral path tracking, but at the expense of poor closed-loop stability margins. However, incorporating the desired sideslip behaviour into the feedforward loop creates a robust steering controller capable of accurate path tracking and oversteer correction at the physical limits of tyre friction. Experimental data collected from an Audi TTS test vehicle driving at the handling limits on a full length race circuit demonstrates the improved performance of the final controller design.     

面向全矢量线控车辆极限运动的分层式协同控制

装配四轮分布式驱动-转向（4WID-4WIS）底盘的全矢量线控车辆具备多可控自由度、高速稳定性强的特点,是极限工况稳定裕度和安全性较高的理想车型。为了解决全矢量线控车辆在极限工况下纵横向控制冲突危害行车安全的问题,提出一种基于模型预测控制 （MPC） 的分层式车辆纵向和横向运动协同控制方法。建立基于单轨模型的期望运动状态识别方法,设计模型预测控制器转换动力学目标,采用泰勒展开和前向欧拉方法对预测模型进行线性离散化处理;设计基于负荷率的轮胎力优化分配方法,利用反正切轮胎逆模型求解控制执行量。仿真结果表明,协同控制方法能显著提高车辆在不同路面下的极限运动稳定性,更精准地跟踪期望运动状态,扩大稳定裕度,保障行车安全。     

无人驾驶机器人车辆非线性模糊滑模车速控制

为了实现不同行驶工况下车速的精确、稳定控制,提出一种基于非线性干扰观测器的无人驾驶机器人车辆模糊滑模车速控制方法。考虑模型不确定性和外部干扰对车速控制的影响,建立车辆纵向动力学模型。通过分析无人驾驶机器人油门机械腿、制动机械腿的结构、机械腿操纵自动挡车辆踏板的运动,建立油门机械腿和制动机械腿的运动学模型。在此基础上,分别设计油门/制动切换控制器、油门模糊滑模控制器以及制动模糊滑模控制器,并进行控制系统的稳定性分析。油门/制动切换控制器以目标车速的导数为输入来进行油门与制动之间的切换控制。油门模糊滑模控制器和制动模糊滑模控制器以当前车速以及车速误差为输入,分别以油门机械腿直线电机位移和制动机械腿直线电机位移为输出来实现对油门与制动的控制。模糊滑模控制器中,为了减少控制抖振,滑模控制的反馈增益系数由模糊逻辑进行在线调节。模糊滑模控制器中的非线性干扰观测器用于估计和补偿无人驾驶机器人车辆的模型不确定性与外部干扰。仿真及试验结果对比分析表明：本文方法能够精确地估计和补偿无人驾驶机器人车辆的模型不确定性和外部干扰,避免了油门控制与制动控制之间的频繁切换,并实现了精确稳定的车速控制。     

Vehicle Handling Improvement by Active Steering

Summary This paper first analyses some stability aspects of vehicle lateral motion, then a coprime factors and linear fractional transformations (LFT) based feedforward and feedback H 8 control for vehicle handling improvement is presented. The control synthesis procedure uses a linear vehicle model which includes the yaw motion and disturbance input with speed and road adhesion variations. The synthesis procedure allows the separate processing of the driver reference signal and robust stabilization problem or disturbance rejection. The control action is applied as an additional steering angle, by combination of the driver input and feedback of the yaw rate. The synthesized controller is tested for different speeds and road conditions on a nonlinear model in both disturbance rejection and driver imposed yaw reference tracking maneuvers.     

Fault tolerant nonlinear control with applications to an automated transit bus

This paper presents an integrated structure for a passive and active fault tolerant control (FTC) design approach in the framework of a robust nonlinear control technique called Dynamic Surface Control (DSC). As motivated by the automated vehicle application, we consider two categories of possible faults: pre-specified (a priori) and non-specified faults. It is first shown that DSC can be considered as a passive FTC approach in the sense that it gives simultaneous robust stability to a set of nonlinear systems even in the presence of model uncertainties and the pre-specified faults. Then, the non-specified fault is classified depending on the fault’s impact on the closed-loop system and isolatability from a fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) system. If a fault is both intolerable and isolatable, an active FTC approach is taken which includes FDD and controller reconfiguration. More specifically, trajectory reconfiguration is considered to accommodate the actuator fault, i.e., to compensate for the performance loss due to the fault within the framework of a switched hierarchical structure. Finally, the integrated structure for the longitudinal control of an automated transit bus is designed through the proposed method. Simulation results of the fault tolerant controller are shown for both single and multiple multiplicative faults. This controller was implemented on the California PATH transit buses in a demonstration of automated public transportation technology in San Diego, California in August of 2003.     

Vehicle Handling Improvement by Active Steering

Summary This paper first analyses some stability aspects of vehicle lateral motion, then a coprime factors and linear fractional transformations (LFT) based feedforward and feedback H 8 control for vehicle handling improvement is presented. The control synthesis procedure uses a linear vehicle model which includes the yaw motion and disturbance input with speed and road adhesion variations. The synthesis procedure allows the separate processing of the driver reference signal and robust stabilization problem or disturbance rejection. The control action is applied as an additional steering angle, by combination of the driver input and feedback of the yaw rate. The synthesized controller is tested for different speeds and road conditions on a nonlinear model in both disturbance rejection and driver imposed yaw reference tracking maneuvers.     

Adaptive Throttle Control for Speed Tracking

SUMMARY

Electronic throttle control is an important part of every advanced vehicle control system. In this paper we design an adaptive control scheme for electronic throttle that achieves good tracking of arbitrary constant speed commands in the presence of unknown disturbances. The design is based on a simplified linear vehicle model which is derived from a validated nonlinear one. The designed control scheme is simulated using the validated full order nonlinear vehicle model and tested on an actual vehicle. The simulation and vehicle test results are included in this paper to show the performance of the controller. Due to the learning capability of the adaptive control scheme, changes in the vehicle dynamics do not affect the performance of the controller in any significant manner.     

Robust <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis><Subscript>∞</Subscript> preview control of an active suspension system with norm-bounded uncertainties

A robust H _∞ preview control is investigated for an active suspension system with look-ahead sensors. The uncertain system is described by a state-space model with linear nominal parts and additional nonlinear time-varying norm-bounded uncertainties. Proof of robust stability and a feedback-type robust H _∞ preview controller are derived by augmenting the dynamics of the original system and previewed road input. As, however, the augmented previewed road input gives the system a much larger dimension than the original system, much more computation time is required for solving of Riccati equations. To resolve this problem, a decomposed robust H _∞ preview controller is proposed. Robust stability and performance variations for system uncertainties are shown using a numerical example of a quarter-car model.