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.     

A Simplified Framework for String Stability Analysis of Automated Vehicles∗

SUMMARY

Automated vehicles traveling in platoons must exhibit stability both individually and as a group, a property referred to as “string stability”. We propose a new framework for evaluating the longitudinal string stability properties of platoons of automated vehicles. In this framework, the platoon is considered to be a mass-spring-damper system with linear characteristics. The resulting closed-loop representation yields transfer functions and impulse responses that can be analyzed to determine the string stability properties of the platoon. This framework facilitates qualitative comparisons of the effects of various controller characteristics, such as time headway and intervehicle communication, on string stability.     

基于预测恒定车头时距策略的自适应巡航控制研究

为了进一步提高车辆跟车过程中的跟踪性、安全性、舒适性和燃油经济性，针对已有间距策略表现过于保守或反应过于激烈等不足之处，提出了一种预测恒定车头时距策略。该策略考虑了相对加速度，建立了一种预测型期望车间距模型，进而应用于模型预测控制的多目标自适应巡航控制系统中，能进一步提高模型预测控制对多个控制目标的综合协调能力。搭建上层控制器、下层PID控制器、油门制动切换、逆纵向动力学模型。在多工况下仿真，通过建立性能评判指标对多目标进行量化分析。结果表明，所提出的间距策略在保证安全性的前提下，提升了自适应巡航控制系统的综合性能。在不同驾驶风格的车头时距下，跟踪性、舒适性和燃油经济性均有良好表现。     

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.     

A Simplified Framework for String Stability Analysis of Automated Vehicles*

Automated vehicles traveling in platoons must exhibit stability both individually and as a group, a property referred to as “string stability”. We propose a new framework for evaluating the longitudinal string stability properties of platoons of automated vehicles. In this framework, the platoon is considered to be a mass-spring-damper system with linear characteristics. The resulting closed-loop representation yields transfer functions and impulse responses that can be analyzed to determine the string stability properties of the platoon. This framework facilitates qualitative comparisons of the effects of various controller characteristics, such as time headway and intervehicle communication, on string stability.     

基于滑模控制的时滞自动车辆跟随系统数学模型

基于非线性车辆动力学方程和固定车辆间距跟随策略,对具有时间滞后的自动化公路系统车辆纵向跟随控制问题进行了研究。在假定车队中的每个被控制车辆能够接收到车队领头车辆以及该车前面一个车辆的位移、速度和加速度信息的情况下,应用滑模变结构控制方法,通过对滑模运动方程的分析,得到了关于车辆间距误差的车辆纵向跟随系统的数学模型。该模型属于一类具有时间滞后的无限维非线性关联大系统。在具有时间滞后的车辆纵向跟随控制器设计中,利用该类非线性关联大系统的稳定性判定条件来设计控制参数,可确保车辆纵向跟随控制系统的稳定性。     

网联通信时延下的混合队列控制特性分析

针对CACC协同自适应巡航控制技术,探究其在车联网通信时延影响下,与驾驶员驾驶汽车共存而构成的混合队列系统的性能.从微观跟车行为角度,基于频域传递函数,推导通信时延下的CACC队列稳定最小跟车时距的理论表达式,并通过数值验证指出CACC队列稳定最小跟车时距随通信时延增大而增大的特性.从交通激波特性角度,针对无时延CAC...     

Effects of Model Complexity on the Performance of Automated Vehicle Steering Controllers: Model Development,Validation and Comparison

SUMMARY

Recent research on autonomous highway vehicles has begun to focus on lateral control strategies. The initial work has focused on vehicle control during low-g maneuvers at constant vehicle speed, typical of lane merging and normal highway driving. In this paper, and its companion paper, to follow, the lateral control of vehicles during high-g emergency maneuvers is addressed. Models of the vehicle dynamics are developed, showing the accuracy of the different models under low and high-g conditions. Specifically, body roll, tire and drive-train dynamics, tire force saturation, and tire side force lag are shown to be important effects to include in models for emergency maneuvers. Current controllers, designed for low-g maneuvers only, neglect these effects. The follow on paper demonstrates the performance of lateral controllers during high-g lateral emergency maneuvers using these vehicle models.     

Optimal roll control of an articulated vehicle: theory and model validation

This paper investigates optimal roll control of an experimental articulated vehicle. The test vehicle and the mathematical model used to design the control strategies are presented. The vehicle model is validated against experimental data from the test vehicle in passive configuration. The initial controller design, performed by Sampson (Sampson, D.J.M. and Cebon, D., 2003a, Achievable roll stability of heavy road vehicles. Proc. Instn. Mech. Engrs, Part D, J. Automobile Engineering, 217(4), 269–287), is reviewed and adapted for the experimental vehicle. The effect of not controlling all the axles on the vehicle is investigated and a variable vehicle speed controller is designed by interpolating between constant speed controllers. Substantial reduction in normalized load transfer is achieved for a range of manoeuvres, both in steady-state and transient conditions.     

Full drive-by-wire dynamic control for four-wheel-steer all-wheel-drive vehicles

Most of the controllers introduced for four-wheel-steer (4WS) vehicles are derived with the assumption that the longitudinal speed of the vehicle is constant. However, in real applications, the longitudinal speed varies, and the longitudinal, lateral, and yaw dynamics are coupled. In this paper, the longitudinal dynamics of the vehicle as well as its lateral and yaw motions are controlled simultaneously. This way, the effect of driving/braking forces of the tires on the lateral and yaw motions of the vehicle are automatically included in the control laws. To address the dynamic parameter uncertainty of the vehicle, a chatter-free variable structure controller is introduced. Elimination of chatter is achieved by introducing a dynamically adaptive boundary layer thickness. It is shown via simulations that the proposed control approach performs more robustly than the controllers developed based on dynamic models, in which longitudinal speed is assumed to be constant, and only lateral speed and yaw rate are used as system states. Furthermore, this approach supports all-wheel-drive vehicles. Front-wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive vehicles are also supported as special cases of an all-wheel-drive vehicle.     

混合交通状态下交叉口排队机动车流启动车头时距研究和应用

研究的主要内容包括:信号灯控制道路交叉口红灯周期形成的排队车辆,在放行后不同车型的启动时间和不同车型组成的混合机动车流车头时距的分布研究;混合交通状态下机动车启动通过交叉口时受到干扰后的延误时间研究;利用上述研究成果对混合交通状态下交叉口排队车辆的放行绿灯时间进行估算。课题以现实交通数据为基础,通过统计分析结果最终建立放行绿灯时间估算表,对混合交通状态下道路交叉口信号灯的配时起到指导意义。     

Radar Health Monitoring for Highway Vehicle Applications

Monitoring the health of the radar sensor on a highway vehicle poses a special challenge. This is because the radar measures the distance to other independent vehicles on the highway and the motion of these other vehicles may be completely unknown to the fault detection system. Traditional observer-based approaches to fault diagnostic system design cannot be used. A number of new approaches are therefore explored in this paper in an attempt to create a reliable fault detection system for the radar. These include: (a) Use of inter-vehicle communication; (b) Use of a geographic database of pre-identified roadside radar targets; (c) Detection of abrupt failures using fuzzy logic and a knowledge of vehicle acceleration abilities; (d) Use of a redundant sensor that is inexpensive but of poor quality. The performance of each of these approaches is evaluated. Experimental results indicate that a combination of approaches (c) and (d) would provide the most reliable method for radar health monitoring. This combination would work effectively even in the absence of inter-vehicle communication in a realistic highway environment.     

队列行驶车辆间距对气动特性的影响

为了研究车辆前后间距和车辆数目对智能交通系统中队列行驶车辆气动特性的影响,首先对单辆车进行数值模拟,并将模拟结果与风洞试验结果进行对比,然后对两辆车在5种不同间距下以及3～7辆车在固定间距下队列行驶的情况分别进行了数值模拟及分析。研究表明:单辆车数值模拟结果与风洞试验结果基本吻合。队列行驶车辆随着车辆间距的减小,各车阻力系数不断降低。在固定间距下,随着队列中车辆数目的增加,平均阻力系数可降低20%～30%,阻力最低的车大致处于车队的中心位置。     

车路协同下避让紧急车辆协同换道策略

为加快紧急车辆抵达事故现场的速度，同时减少紧急车辆优先权对其他车辆的影响，运用车路协同系统，提出避让紧急车辆协同换道策略，通过调整紧急车辆下游车辆位置，实现紧急车辆高效通过路段。以紧急车辆前车（DV）及其相邻目标车道车辆为控制对象，根据相邻车道车辆间距与车车通信范围，搜索DV可换道空间间隙集。以交通流整体恢复稳定时间最小为目标，确定DV换道轨迹和相邻车道协作车辆的速度变化，引导车辆完成协同合流，既能保障车辆安全换道，还能降低换道造成的速度振荡传递。同时，为快速恢复DV换道造成的目标车道车辆速度波动，对上游车辆（UV）采取先进先出规则的换道控制策略。所提协同避让紧急车辆的策略考虑了车辆协同换道对交通流的整体影响，并在原有换道策略的基础上提出了减少速度波动传递的控制方法。案例分析结果表明:采用上下游协同换道策略最短换道时间为6s，此时紧急车辆距前车78.66 m时发送避让信号。同时研究发现，恢复交通流速度稳定所需的时间为29 s，比未采用上下游协同换道策略降低了34%。      

Effects of Model Complexity on the Performance of Automated Vehicle Steering Controllers: Model Development, Validation and Comparison

Recent research on autonomous highway vehicles has begun to focus on lateral control strategies. The initial work has focused on vehicle control during low-g maneuvers at constant vehicle speed, typical of lane merging and normal highway driving. In this paper, and its companion paper, to follow, the lateral control of vehicles during high-g emergency maneuvers is addressed. Models of the vehicle dynamics are developed, showing the accuracy of the different models under low and high-g conditions. Specifically, body roll, tire and drive-train dynamics, tire force saturation, and tire side force lag are shown to be important effects to include in models for emergency maneuvers. Current controllers, designed for low-g maneuvers only, neglect these effects. The follow on paper demonstrates the performance of lateral controllers during high-g lateral emergency maneuvers using these vehicle models.     

Robust hierarchical controller with conditional integrator based on small gain theorem for reference trajectory tracking of autonomous vehicles

ABSTRACT

A robust trajectory tracking controller is designed for autonomous vehicles based on a hierarchical architecture to make the autonomous vehicle track a given reference trajectory. The controller consists of two sub controllers: kinematic controller and dynamic controller. Based on the kinematics of tracking reference trajectory, a desired yaw rate is calculated by kinematic controller to make the lateral deviation global asymptotic stable. Then, steering wheel angle is calculated by a vehicle dynamic controller to make the vehicle yaw rate converge to the desired value and make the vehicle dynamic stable. Conditional integration method is used in the sub controllers. This method guarantees global asymptotic stability of tracking reference values and considers the uncertainty of parameters and constraints of desired yaw rate and actuators. Then based on small-gain theorem, the condition of the finite-gain L stability is given to the hierarchical controller to ensure the interconnected sub systems stable and prevent the amplification of system disturbance. Finally, the effectiveness and robustness of the controller are validated by real vehicle experiments.     

Enhancing roll stability of heavy vehicle by LQR active anti-roll bar control using electronic servo-valve hydraulic actuators

Rollover of heavy vehicle is an important road safety problem world-wide. Although rollovers are relatively rare events, they are usually deadly accidents when they occur. The roll stability loss is the main cause of rollover accidents in which heavy vehicles are involved. In order to improve the roll stability, most of modern heavy vehicles are equipped with passive anti-roll bars to reduce roll motion during cornering or riding on uneven roads. However these may be not sufficient to overcome critical situations. This paper introduces the active anti-roll bars made of four electronic servo-valve hydraulic actuators, which are modelled and integrated in a yaw-roll model of a single unit heavy vehicle. The control signal is the current entering the electronic servo-valve and the output is the force generated by the hydraulic actuator. The active control design is achieved solving a linear optimal control problem based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) approach. A comparison of several LQR controllers is provided to allow for tackling the considered multi-objective problems. Simulation results in frequency and time domains show that the use of two active anti-roll bars (front and rear axles) drastically improves the roll stability of the single unit heavy vehicle compared with the passive anti-roll bar.