Stability control of 4WS vehicles using robust IMC techniques

A robust nonparametric approach to vehicle stability control by means of a four-wheel steer by wire system is introduced. Both yaw rate and sideslip angle feedbacks are used in order to effectively take into account safety as well as handling performances. Reference courses for yaw rate and sideslip angle are computed on the basis of the vehicle speed and the handwheel angle imposed by the driver. An output multiplicative model set is used to describe the uncertainty arising from a wide range of vehicle operating situations. The effects of saturation of the control variables (i.e. front and rear steering angles) are taken into account by adopting enhanced internal model control methodologies in the design of the feedback controller. Actuator dynamics are considered in the controller design. Improvements on understeer characteristics, stability in demanding conditions such as turning on low friction surfaces, damping properties in impulsive manoeuvres, and improved handling in closed loop (i.e. with driver feedback) manoeuvres are shown through extensive simulation results performed on an accurate 14 degrees of freedom nonlinear model, which proved to give good modelling results as compared with collected experimental data.     

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.     

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.     

Robust gain-scheduling automatic steering control of unmanned ground vehicles under velocity-varying motion

Owing to the fact that unmanned ground vehicles have the features of time-varying, parametric uncertainties and external disturbances, this paper mainly studies robust automatic steering control of unmanned ground vehicles. Firstly, a linear parameter varying lateral model for unmanned ground vehicle is constructed, in which the longitudinal velocity is represented by a polytope with finite vertices. Secondly, a robust gain scheduling automatic steering control scheme based on the linear matrix inequality technique is proposed to deal with the characteristics of time-varying and external disturbances. Finally, Simulation results based on Adams–Matlab joint platform using a nonlinear full vehicle model have demonstrated that the proposed control approach can simultaneously ensure the control accuracy and strong robustness of system.     

Development of an active front steering (AFS) system with QFT control

This paper investigates an active front steering control strategy based on quantitative feedback theory (QFT). By incorporating feedback from a yaw rate sensor into the active steering system, the control system improves the dynamic response of the vehicle. The steering response of a vehicle generally depends upon uncertain quantities like mass, velocity, and road conditions. Thus, QFT is used to design a controller with robust performance. A multi-degree-of-freedom nonlinear model is co-simulated here by MATLAB Simulink and ADAMS/CAR. The performance of the control system is evaluated under various emergency maneuvers and road conditions. The result shows that the designed robust control system has good control performance and can efficiently improve handing qualities and stability characteristics.     

基于微分几何的四轮独立驱动车辆运动解耦控制研究

针对车辆在纵向运动和横摆运动时的强耦合关系给车辆动力学控制带来的困难，以四轮独立电驱动车辆作为研究对象，基于微分几何理论设计了车辆系统运动解耦控制方法，将非线性强耦合的四轮驱动车辆动力学系统解耦为纵向和横向两个相对独立运动控制子系统，并设计了鲁棒控制器，以提高抵抗车辆行驶时不确定外力如侧风的干扰能力。基于 Trucksim 软件建立四轮驱动车辆模型，并针对车辆解耦控制策略和抗干扰策略进行了仿真测试。结果表明，相比于无解耦控制的车辆，采用微分几何解耦控制的四轮独立驱动车辆纵向速度偏差降低了 82.1%，横摆角速度偏差降低了80.7%，且微风干扰下的抗干扰能力明显改善，车辆稳定性显著提升。为验证该运动解耦控制策略在实时系统中的控制效果，还进行了硬件在环试验，结果表明，硬件在环试验的结果与仿真结果一致。     

Robust design of a passive linear quarter car suspension system using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm and analytical robustness indexes

This paper deals with the robust design of a passive vehicle suspension system. A robust design methodology based on a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) is used to handle the trade-off between the considered conflicting performance requirements under uncertainty and feasibility constraints. A constrained multi-objective optimisation problem is formulated and the notion of Pareto-optimality is used to increase the quality of the candidate design solutions obtained at each generation by the MOEA. To save computation time, a simplified physical model (quarter car) is considered and the optimisation is performed in the frequency domain, using relevant transmissibilities of the system. The robustness is directly investigated by means of analytical robustness indexes. Time-consuming a posteriori methods, like designs of experiments or Monte Carlo analysis, are therefore avoided. A set of non-dominated solutions is obtained. Thus the designer not only selects a special design, in accordance with the wanted vehicle configuration, but also includes the robustness of each performance requirement in his final decision.     

Comparing rear wheel steering and rear active differential approaches to vehicle yaw control

A comparison between two different approaches to vehicle stability control is carried out, employing a robust non-parametric technique in the controller design. In particular, an enhanced internal model control strategy, together with a feedforward action and a suitably generated reference map, is employed for the control of a vehicle equipped either with a rear wheel steering (RWS) system or with a rear active differential (RAD) device. The uncertainty arising from the wide range of operating conditions is described by an additive model set employed in the controller design. Extensive steady state and transient tests simulated with an accurate 14 degrees of freedom nonlinear model of the considered vehicle show that both systems are able to improve handling and safety in normal driving conditions. RAD devices can make the vehicle reach higher lateral acceleration values but they achieve only slight stability improvements against oversteer. On the other hand, 4WS systems can greatly improve both vehicle safety and manoeuvrability in all driving situations, making this device an interesting and powerful stability system.     

Coupled lateral-longitudinal vehicle dynamics and control design with three-dimensional state portraits

The dynamics of vehicles with pneumatic tyres are well-known to be non-holonomic, nonlinear, and subject to state bounds in order to remain on defined roadways. As such, it can be challenging to apply many of the tools typically used to analyse nonlinear dynamics and synthesise control strategies. Furthermore, the use of traditional stability analyses is often insufficient for vehicle control design since adherence to the roadway geometry implies a constrained space that dictates stricter conditions on the states than provable stability. A two-state phase portrait approach has been used to analyse vehicle dynamics and provides an illustrative view of the state trajectories at constant speed. This paper extends the phase portrait to three states to represent the nonlinear vehicle dynamics with steering and longitudinal tyre force inputs and consideration of the longitudinal vehicle dynamics. The concept of a fixed point in the phase plane is extended to a stable curve and example controllers are examined and synthesised using the three-dimensional vector space.     

A novel direct yaw moment controller for in-wheel motor electric vehicles

A novel direct yaw moment controller is developed in this paper. A hierarchical control architecture is adopted in the controller design. In the upper controller, a driver model and a vehicle model are used to obtain the driver's intention and the vehicle states, respectively. The upper controller determines the desired yaw moment by means of sliding mode control. The lower controller distributes differential longitudinal forces according to the desired yaw moment. A nonlinear tyre model, ‘UniTire’, is utilised to develop the novel distribution strategy and the control boundary.     

Vehicle dynamics and road curvature estimation for lane departure warning system using robust fuzzy observers: experimental validation

This paper describes a new approach to estimate vehicle dynamics and the road curvature in order to detect vehicle lane departures. This method has been evaluated through an experimental set-up using a real test vehicle equipped with the RT2500 inertial measurement unit. Based on a robust unknown input fuzzy observer, the road curvature is estimated and compared to the vehicle trajectory curvature. The difference between the two curvatures is used by the proposed lane departure detection algorithm as the first driving risk indicator. To reduce false alarms and take into account driver corrections, a second driving risk indicator based on the steering dynamics is considered. The vehicle nonlinear model is deduced from the vehicle lateral dynamics and road geometry and then represented by an uncertain Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy model. Taking into account the unmeasured variables, an unknown input fuzzy observer is proposed. Synthesis conditions of the proposed fuzzy observer are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities using the Lyapunov method.     

Optimal control of brakes and steering for autonomous collision avoidance using modified Hamiltonian algorithm

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the problem of collision avoidance for road vehicles, operating at the limits of friction. A two-level modelling and control methodology is proposed, with the upper level using a friction-limited particle model for motion planning, and the lower level using a nonlinear 3DOF model for optimal control allocation. Motion planning adopts a two-phase approach: the first phase is to avoid the obstacle, the second is to recover lane keeping with minimal additional lateral deviation. This methodology differs from the more standard approach of path-planning/path-following, as there is no explicit path reference used; the control reference is a target acceleration vector which simultaneously induces changes in direction and speed. The lower level control distributes vehicle targets to the brake and steer actuators via a new and efficient method, the Modified Hamiltonian Algorithm (MHA). MHA balances CG acceleration targets with yaw moment tracking to preserve lateral stability. A nonlinear 7DOF two-track vehicle model confirms the overall validity of this novel methodology for collision avoidance.     

Road curvature estimation for vehicle lane departure detection using a robust Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy observer

In this paper, a lane departure detection method is studied and evaluated via a professional vehicle dynamics software. Based on a robust fuzzy observer designed with unmeasurable premise variables with unknown inputs, the road curvature is estimated and compared with the vehicle trajectory curvature. The difference between the two curvatures is used by the proposed algorithm as the first driving risk indicator. To reduce false alarms and take into account the driver corrections, a second driving risk indicator is considered, which is based on the steering dynamics, and it gives the time to the lane keeping. The used nonlinear model deduced from the vehicle lateral dynamics and a vision system is represented by an uncertain Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy model. Taking into account the unmeasured variables, an unknown input fuzzy observer is then proposed. Synthesis conditions of the proposed fuzzy observer are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities using Lyapunov method. The proposed approach is evaluated under different driving scenarios using a software simulator. Simulation results show good efficiency of the proposed method.     

Scaled vehicle tire characteristics: dimensionless analysis

This article demonstrates the use of dimensional analysis for scaled vehicle tires. The motivation for this approach is the understanding of realistic nonlinear tire behavior in scaled vehicle control studies. By examining the behavior of vehicle tires within a dimensionless framework, several key tire parameters are developed that allow for an appropriate relationship between full-sized tires and scaled tires. Introducing these scalings into vehicle dynamics studies allows for the development of scaled vehicles that have a high degree of dynamic similitude with full-sized vehicles, but are safer and more economical testbeds on which to develop experimental control strategies. Experimental data are used to compare the nonlinear characteristics for sets of scaled and full-sized tires. Finally, design of a scaled vehicle based on tire characteristics is demonstrated.     

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.     

A novel method for identifying inertial parameters of electric vehicles based on the dual H infinity filter

ABSTRACT

Accurate identification of vehicle inertial parameters is essential to the design of vehicle dynamics control systems. In this paper, a novel vehicle inertial parameter identification method based on the dual H infinity filter (DHIF) for electric vehicles (EVs) is proposed. The filter algorithm employs a nonlinear longitudinal vehicle model with three vehicle states. A hierarchical framework is engaged by the DHIF to estimate the vehicle states and inertial parameters concurrently. In order to minimise the disturbance of unknown noise, the vehicle states are estimated by using the linear H infinity filter (LHIF), while the nonlinear H infinity filter (NHIF) utilises the observed states to identify the vehicle inertial parameters. Finally, the proposed estimation method is verified and compared through the dSPACE based hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation experiments. The results indicate that the DHIF-based estimation method is effective to identify the vehicle inertial parameters with high precision, remarkable robustness, and quick convergence.     

Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process to Stochastic Robustness Synthesis of Integrated Vehicle Controllers

This paper deals with the robust design procedure of integrated vehicle dynamics controller based on Stochastic Robustness Synthesis with use of a rational decision making process of the controller parameters. The basic control structure that integrates four-wheel steering and four-wheel torque control is determined using a nonlinear predictive control theory. The Analytic Hierarchy Process, a basic approach to decision making, is applied to determine the weight coefficients of robustness evaluation function of the controller. The desired vehicle dynamic performance is described as four-layer hierarchy structure and the design priority is determined with respect to several design criteria. The proposed design process produced a control system with excellent stability and performance robustness to vehicle parameter variations.     

Design and Evaluation of Robust Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control Systems in Parameter Space

This paper is on the design of cooperative adaptive cruise control systems for automated driving of platoons of vehicles in the longitudinal direction. Longitudinal models of vehicles with simple dynamics, an uncertain first order time constant and vehicle to vehicle communication with a communication delay are used in the vehicle modeling. A robust parameter space approach is developed and applied to the design of the cooperative adaptive cruise control system. D-stability is chosen as the robust performance goal and the feedback PD controller is designed in controller parameter space to achieve this D-stability goal for a range of possible longitudinal dynamics time constants and different values of time gap. Preceding vehicle acceleration is sent to the ego vehicle using vehicle to vehicle communication and a feedforward controller is used in this inter-vehicle loop to improve performance. Simulation results of an eight vehicle platoon of heterogeneous vehicles are presented and evaluated to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed design method. Also, the proposed method is compared with a benchmark controller and the feedback only controller. Time gap regulation and string stability are used to assess performance and the effect of the vehicle to vehicle communication frequency on control system performance is also investigated.     

Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process to Stochastic Robustness Synthesis of Integrated Vehicle Controllers

This paper deals with the robust design procedure of integrated vehicle dynamics controller based on Stochastic Robustness Synthesis with use of a rational decision making process of the controller parameters. The basic control structure that integrates four-wheel steering and four-wheel torque control is determined using a nonlinear predictive control theory. The Analytic Hierarchy Process, a basic approach to decision making, is applied to determine the weight coefficients of robustness evaluation function of the controller. The desired vehicle dynamic performance is described as four-layer hierarchy structure and the design priority is determined with respect to several design criteria. The proposed design process produced a control system with excellent stability and performance robustness to vehicle parameter variations.     

Optimisation of lateral car dynamics taking into account parameter uncertainties

Simulation studies on an active all-wheel-steering car show that disturbance of vehicle parameters have high influence on lateral car dynamics. This motivates the need of robust design against such parameter uncertainties. A specific parametrisation is established combining deterministic, velocity-dependent steering control parameters with partly uncertain, velocity-independent vehicle parameters for simultaneous use in a numerical optimisation process. Model-based objectives are formulated and summarised in a multi-objective optimisation problem where especially the lateral steady-state behaviour is improved by an adaption strategy based on measurable uncertainties. The normally distributed uncertainties are generated by optimal Latin hypercube sampling and a response surface based strategy helps to cut down time consuming model evaluations which offers the possibility to use a genetic optimisation algorithm. Optimisation results are discussed in different criterion spaces and the achieved improvements confirm the validity of the proposed procedure.